The Cleansing
by lilepdude
Summary: This takes place present day, the evils have returned and there are only six people who haven't already been killed or taken over. For parts 1 and 2, go to Adept Quest, but it's not necessary. Reviews would be cool I suppose...
1. Part 3: The Cleansing: Prologue

**Prologue**

**Magma begins slowly spilling from the ground in the middle of a large field. A charred paw shortly follows it, it's fur charred off. The hole gets larger and the magma bubbles out quicker. The being pulls itself from the hole, dripping with the magma. It stands there for a moment before smirking. "At last, I'm free." James jumps up from his sleep, hitting his head on the top bunk of his bunk bed. He rubs his forehead as he lies back down. "That's the sixth night in a row that I've had that dream." He lies there for a moment, coming close to falling back to sleep, but from outside there's a sudden screech of tires followed by a large crash. James jumps out of bed, wide awake now, and runs over to his window. "What was that?" He immediately notices that the trees nearby his house are burning. "Oh no! Mom, dad, fire!" He quickly puts his shoes on and opens his door to run downstairs. His sister stands directly in front of him, wobbling slightly. There's a large gash in her arm. "Jess? Are you alright?" She makes a slight growling noise and swipes at James. He falls back slightly, tripping over his chair. He hears glass smash downstairs. "What's going on?" James turns towards his window and opens it. He hears his sister rushing towards him. He gets the window open in time and jumps out. He looks around for a moment before jumping down to his front yard from his garage roof. The woods surrounding his house are burning brightly. He turns and finds his windows smashed and his sister climbing onto the garage roof from his window. With little idea of what to do, he runs down his driveway towards the street.**

**---**

**Adam sits on his chair, watching T.V. Unable to find anything good to watch, he stands and prepares to go to sleep. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a fire nearby the high school. He walks over to his door and opens it. Outside is chaos. The fire wasn't limited to the school, it had spread far beyond that and was quickly approaching the house. He turns to return inside and warn his family, they were already standing behind him. "We need to get out of the house! There's a fire spreading!" His family remains still. Adam notices blood coming from a gash in each of their right arms. "What happened?" His dad lunges at him, hitting him in the face. Adam falls to the ground, confused. His other family members begin to walk towards him. Adam rushes to his feet and begins running in the opposite direction of the fire, unaware of what lurked ahead.**

**---**

**Andrew sits, focused entirely on the game he's playing. Soon after, he notices out of the corner of his eye that it's just past 3:00 a.m. "Wow, I have school tomorrow, why didn't mom tell me what time it was?" Andrew shuts his T.V. off and goes towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. All of the lights are off and his parents are nowhere to be found. "Mom?" His cat runs past him and into his room. A crunching noise can be heard from the kitchen. "Mom?" Andrew turns the corner into the kitchen. His mom, dad and both his sisters are kneeling on the floor in a circle. Their heads are down, they seem to be eating something off of the floor. "What are you doing?" His younger sister turns her head; blood is dripping from her mouth. He looks past her at what his family is eating. It's his dog. "Oh my god! What is this?" His family stumbles to their legs and face him, leaving the bloody lump that was his dog where it is. They stare evilly at Andrew, blood dripping down their faces. Andrew rushes back to his room, gets his pocketknives and rushes from the house. **


	2. Act XII

**Act XII**

**James stands at the end of his driveway, unsure of what to do next. Both to the left and to the right has fires and car wrecks. "I guess maybe I should head towards the police station. It's probably the best defended place around here." James turns left and begins walking, saving his energy for if more people attack him. The fires on the trees force him into the middle of the street. It's not long before James finds a burning pile of cars across both lanes. Looking around for another way, James notices a house that still looks untouched to his right. In the front yard is a bulldozer in seemingly good condition. "Maybe if someone's alive in there, they can drive me to the police station?" With little choice, James runs up to the driveway and knocks on the door.**

**---**

**Adam has already found himself entirely lost, still being chased by the inferno behind him. Thinking quickly, Adam tries to think of the safest place nearby and decides on the same place James had, the police station. Searching frantically for a landmark now, Adam plans to run to the police station. After actually looking closely at his surroundings, he realizes where he is. However, it's very different from how he remembers it. He's at a field, not too far from his house, but it's burning and has a large pool of magma in it. Deciding that he doesn't want to be here any longer than necessary, he begins running once again, this time to the police station.**

**---**

**Andrew stands in his driveway. His family hadn't left the house yet. Bloody bodies lay in the street, arms hang from mangled cars and fire is burning everything around. "What happened here?" Not entirely sure what to do, Andrew stands still, wide-eyed. From behind comes the sound of banging. It seems like his family is trying to break down the door. He simply stares at the door, expecting that the never will. However, moments later, the windows to the second floor living room smash and his dad falls out headfirst. "Oh my god! Could anyone have survived that?" Too afraid to move, Andrew just stares on. Moments later, Andrew is grabbed from behind. He manages to break free with some effort and pushes the person to the ground. He turns to find that all of the corpses in the street had risen. From behind him he hears footsteps. He finds that his dad had risen as well. His door breaks down and his remaining family members push through the doorway. Andrew turns around quickly, pulling his knife out at the same time. He runs down his driveway, his knife raised. He turns left and slices a zombie in the face simultaneously. He keeps running, the way ahead appearing clear. However, a woman appears in front of him. He runs into her and falls backward onto the ground. The woman speaks. "Ah, I see that I've missed one. Andrew hurries back to his feet. "Who are you?" The woman smirks. "I am the mistress of pain."**

**---**

**"Hello? Is anyone there?" James knocks on the door again. There's still no answer. He checks the door, which is unlocked. Not wanting to be outside any longer than necessary, he walks inside. "Is anyone home?" Something runs past his leg. A noise sounding much like heavy breathing can be heard from the next room. "Hello?" He turns to find a shotgun in his face. James screams and stumbles backwards. The man with the gun lowers his weapon. "So, I guess I'm not the only survivor after all." James catches his breath. "Sir, I want to get to the police station. They're well armed and have good security. Could you help me out?" The man frowns. "I'm not leaving my house. It's a living hell out there." James sighs." Well then, can I have the keys to that bulldozer out front? You won't have any need for it after this, will you?" The man thinks for a moment and then sighs. "I suppose you're right. Very well, you can have my keys." The man walks over to a table, at which time James realizes that the house wasn't untouched. The back of the man's legs were bloody and looked as if something tried to chew them off. The man picks up a ring of keys and throws them to James. "Thank you sir, you may have just saved my life." "No, the second you step out of this house, the zombies will kill you." "Yeah, well, we'll see about that." James leaves the building, finds the right key on the ring, and drives the bulldozer through the barricade of cars.**

**---**

**It had been nearly an hour since Adam began running. He escaped the expanding flames and his family. He now stands in front of the police station. The lights are on inside and it seems untouched. He walks slowly up to the entrance and opens the door. He turns and locks it before slumping to the ground and trying to catch his breath. He falls unconscious. Moments later he awakes to a voice. "You! Get up!" Adam opens his eyes and sees that he has a gun pointed at him. "Whoa, don't shoot!" The man slowly puts the gun back into its holster. "So, you're not one of them, huh?" Without another word, the man turns around and starts to walk away. Adam stumbles to his feet. "Hey! Wait up! I came here because I figured that it was probably the safest place around here." Adam catches up to the man as he says this. The man sighs. "I'm an officer here, so I've been around since the start. The station is far from safe, nowhere is." Adam responds nervously. "What do you mean? Aren't there other officers with you? And weapons?" The officer stops at a door. "Do you want to see the other officers? I don't think that you would." The officer opens the door and leads Adam into the holding room. Adam looks into the cells. Inside, he sees about twenty other officers. Their skin is a pale green and their eyes a pure white. Blood drips from their mouths; a lump of a body is pushed in the corner. "Those are the other officers! As for the weapons, the armory is locked and I can't find the key. As I said, we are far from safe here." "How did this happen? How did you survive?" The officer shrugs. "Someone broke into the station. He had these long, black claws. He went around, slicing everyone's arms! Hearing the warning on the intercom, I locked my door and hid like a coward. I suppose I was lucky. Anyway, the next thing I knew, everyone had become these mindless zombies. With the help of the only other surviving officer, I was able to trap them here." He nods towards the dead body in the cell. "He sacrificed himself for you?" The officer shakes his head. "No, ****_I_**** sacrificed him for me. He went unwillingly." Quickly changing the subject, Adam speaks. "Do you have idea who did this?" The officer shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think he said his name was, um, Nihlathak?"**

**---**

**Now, with some speed on his side, James continues on towards the police station. Any zombies in the way, he runs over. Having not earned his driver's license yet, he swerves plenty. "Hey, what's that?" James squints in an attempt to decipher who the person in the distance is. "It's Andrew!" The Mistress of Pain is holding Andrew by his shirt collar. Andrew is clearly resisting her, and therefore not one of the zombies. "Let him go!" James begins driving towards the two. The mistress turns to see the bulldozer coming at her. Not knowing what it is, she quickly drops Andrew and disappears, fearing it may be a powerful creature. "Andrew!" James is unable to turn the vehicle. "How the heck do you steer this thing?" Andrew quickly rolls out of the way and James jumps from within it. The bulldozer continues on before hitting a nearby house. Upon the crash, it bursts into flames. James rushes to his feet and runs quickly to Andrew. "Dude, are you OK?" Andrew slowly stands. "Well, besides the fact I was almost choked to death and then nearly run over by a car, yeah, I'm fine." All of the nearby zombies seem to have disappeared into thin air. Andrew puts his pocketknives back into his pocket. "So, it's bad over here too, huh?" Andrew nods. "Everyone around has turned into a zombie." "Well, I was heading to the police station, they have guns and stuff. It's probably the safest place around. Without a car though, it'll take forever. Way too long considering the amount of zombies around. Plus, as you can see, the one I had is a bit unusable now." Andrew thinks. "Well, we could use one of mine. If we can get into my house at least." James nods. "Sounds good to me." James checks for zombies. "One second." He runs to the burning bulldozer and looks around. "What're you doing?" "Just hold on!" James spots a pipe that had broken off of the bulldozer as it crashed. "Ah, this should do." He tries to pick it up but pulls his hand back quickly. "Ouch! That things hot!" He looks around for something to help him out and spots a hose on the house. He cools the pipe with the water from the hose and then takes it. "Awesome, it has a pointed tip where it broke, so I can stab with it and use it as a club…" He walks back over to Andrew. "Sorry that took so long, but we'll both need some kind of weapon." Andrew nods. "Let's get this over with."**

**---**

**Adam and the officer had left the holding room long ago. They now stand on the first floor, attempting to open the armory. "Are you sure you have no idea where the key is?" The officer sighs. "I already told you! I have no idea!" "Jeez, sorry." The officer stands in front of the door and attempts to pry it open with his hands. Adam looks behind them. "Hey, you have a weight room?" "So what? Why aren't you helping me?" "I bet we could use those weight to knock the door down." "That's true…but that room's locked too!" "Yeah, but that door's made of glass, not metal. Just shoot it down or something." The officer looks down at his gun as if seeing it for the first time. He raises it and aims at the door. He shoots three shots at the bottom pane of glass on the door, which shatters. "Good plan, kid. You're smaller, so you climb in there and get the biggest weight you can carry. We'll bash this door down. Adam nods and crawls into the weight room. He takes a decent sized weight and throws it through one of the glass windows separating the hall and the weight room. "How about you come in here and we get the biggest weight we can lift together? I'm sure it'd be more effective." The officer shrugs and enters the weight room. They pick up one of the largest weights in the room and rush from the room into the armory door. They continue beating at the door with the weight, using it as a battering ram. After nearly five minutes, the door falls in. "We did it, yes!" Adam and the officer enter the armory, finding enough weapons to last them forever.**

**---**

**James and Andrew stand at the entrance to Andrew's house. "What happened to you door man?" "It was, um, my family." "Oh…" James goes silent. The two enter the house. James watches the back while Andrew watches the front. They slowly walk up the flight of stairs to the living room. James notices the blood dripping off of the smashed window Andrew looks away. They continue, slowly walking towards the kitchen. They turn the corner. "Is that Abigail?" James had been referring to the bloody pile in the kitchen. Andrew doesn't respond. They reach the keys, right next to the back door. Andrew's cat sits at the door, scratching at it. Andrew takes the keys ands then bends over to pet the cat. "Hey Bandit!" The cat starts purring. "Dude, let's go!" Andrew turns around to look at James. "Hold on." He turns to look at the cat again, but it's gone. He looks to the left and sees it next to the computer desk, hissing at something. A hand reaches out from underneath the desk, grads the cat and then pulls it under in one quick motion. A puddle of blood leaks from underneath the desk. "Bandit!" James turns around to see why Andrew screamed. "Oh my god, dude! We need to get out of here!" The owner of the hand reveals itself to be Andrew's younger sister as she begins to crawl from under the desk, her clothes now stained with both dog and cat blood. James and Andrew turn to run back towards the front door, but Andrew's older sister turns the corner in front of them. They fumble around with the back door and manage to get it open. They rush through and down the wooden steps. Hearing both of Andrew's sisters behind them, they begin running towards the front of the house. Andrew's parents jump out of nowhere, but James and Andrew manage to dodge them. They reach the car. James yells over to Andrew. "Dude, you drive, we've seen how good ****_I_**** am at it." Andrew nods and they rush into the car. Andrew speeds backwards, narrowly missing his grandmother and then drives towards the police station.**

**---**

**Adam and the officer had barricaded themselves in a room with all of the guns and ammunition they could carry/ Adam looks over to the officer. "How long do you think this will last?" The officer shakes his head. "Probably forever, we're really just giving ourselves false hope." "Come on man, don't talk like that. I'm sure the military will save any survivors they can find." The officer remains silent. Adam stands and walks over to the closet and finds a T.V. "Awesome! A T.V.! Oh, and it looks like it has cable too! This should help us pass the time." Adam turns the T.V. on. It's static. He changes the channel a few times. Each channel is either static or news. Adam sighs and switches it to news before sitting down. The audio is difficult to hear. "Multiple cities appear to have been taken over by…zombies? Hey, who's writing the stuff on the teleprompter!" The newswoman looks angry. Her boss yells at her to continue. She sighs. "…By zombies. The military has been sent in and have been ordered to kill everything that moves. The military states that there are NO survivors. I repeat, NO survivors." The woman, just realizing what she just said, gasps. "Oh my…" Suddenly, demonic laughter is heard and the woman scream. The channel turns to static. Adam stares wide-eyed at the T.V. and continues to sit where he is.**

**---**

**After the worst car ride of their lives, James and Andrew reach the police station. Ignoring the feeling of wanting to puke, they rush from the car and run to the police station. They push open the side door and lock it behind them. "Well, we're here, now what?" James stops to think for a moment. "We should check the dispatch room. We can check the cameras for any other survivors." Having been here before, they both go directly to the dispatch room down the hall. They look around the room. "No one's here, that's a bad sign." They walk over to the monitors and watch as it automatically switches between cameras. Each outside view suddenly shows a mass of zombies. Inside, the only sign of "life" that's apparent is the crowd of zombie officers in the cell. The camera then switches to James' dad's office. "Dude, is that Adam?" They pause the camera. "Yeah, it is! Is he alive?" The two rush to the entrance to the office. "Adam, are you in there?" "Is that you James?" The door swings open. Adam pulls James and Andrew inside. "Oh my god! How did you guys survive?"**


	3. Act XIII

**Act XIII**

**Returning now, to the day before this all began, April 22, 2006. Hyun has finally reached George's house. His parents let him out and he walks up to the front door. He knocks on it and yells out. "Hey George! It's Hya!" George opens the door. "Hey Hya, what's up?" Hyun walks in and George closes the door. "George, it's almost three o' clock already. Shouldn't we go to sleep?" Hyun yawns. "But you just got here Hya! It's been a while since I last saw you." Hyun yawns again. "Yes, well, it's late, and you should be rested for your birthday tomorrow!" George sighs. "Fine, Hya." The two of them head upstairs to go to sleep.**

**---**

**Sven sits at home, for once having nothing to do. He sits at the computer, staring at the screen. He daydreams of random events of the day. Snapping out of it, he looks down at the time on his computer. "Wow, three a.m., I didn't even notice it was past ten." Sven yawns and stands from his chair. He walks to his room, not seeing anyone along the way. "Man, tomorrow's going to stink, I'll be so tired." He let's himself fall back onto his bed and falls asleep.**

**---**

**"You mustn't sleep! At three o' clock tomorrow morning, if you aren't wary, the end of the world as you know it will come! Listen to me, awake! If you're killed, all is lost! WAKE UP!" Kaylee awakes, falling off of the couch she had been sleeping on. She sits up, leaning against the couch and rubs here eyes. "What was that all about?" She stands and looks around the room. "Where's Brendan? Why would he let me just fall asleep on the couch like that?" She flicks the light on and continues her search for Brendan. "You must leave, ****_NOW!"_**** Kaylee feels a sharp pain in her head and winces. She puts her hand to her head and holds it there. "That's the same voice that woke me up!" "Kaylee, listen to me. You must hide, you must go where no one can find you, and you must do it immediately!" Kaylee feels the pain in her head again, only much worse now. She has trouble keeping on her feet. "Do as I say, and the pain will stop. GO!" Unable to think clearly with the horrible ache in her head, Kaylee obeys the voice. She slowly makes her way to the door, using the walls to help guide her. Immediately after stepping from the house, the pain stops. "Now, Kaylee, you must do as I say, or you won't survive this. Obey me to the word." Kaylee nods, still holding her head. "You must go towards the high school, I will explain my plan from there." Kaylee stands still, still trying to process the information, but the pain returns. "Go now, before it's too late!" Kaylee immediately begins running, leaving her shoes inside of Brendan's house. She ignores the pain caused by the rocks cutting her feet the entire time, the voice in her voice commands it.**

**---**

**Hyun awakes early the next morning, around three o' clock, but is unable to get back to sleep. Quietly, he thinks to himself. "I'm so tired, why can't I sleep?" He yawns and lies in bed for about ten minutes before finding himself wide awake. "Man, I'm going to be so tired during George's birthday tomorrow if I don't get some sleep!" He glances over at George sleeping on the other bed across the room. "I came all the way here from Boston to see George and I'll probably sleep through his birthday." Hyun stands and stretches. He decides to walk down to the kitchen and get a glass of water in hope that it'll help him sleep. He leaves the room and makes his way to the stairs. However, when he looks down them, he sees a man in a dark black cloak, almost transparent. The man stands still and Hyun does the same, frozen with fear. After nearly a full minute of silence, the man speaks. "You, you must leave this place by noon today. You must leave without a word, to the high school." Hyun stays silent for a moment. "Why?" The man chuckles in a way that sends shivers down Hyun's spine. "Because your destiny does not involve you dying on the floor of this mortal's house!" The man disappears and Hyun falls back into a deep sleep at the top of the stairs.**

**---**

**Sven wakes up at about ten in the morning, feeling fully rested. Realizing this, he thinks, "Wow, I guess I was wrong, not only am I not tired, I woke up at a decent hour!" Feeling much better than most after just waking up, Sven jumps from bed and heads to the kitchen to find something to eat. There's still no sign of anyone. Ignoring that for the time being, he opens the closet to check for food. He discovers something else, though. His brother, Skye, falls face first from the closet onto the floor. Blood oozes slowly from a gash in his arm. Sven stares at the body of his brother in shock. Quickly getting over it, he rushes to the phone and calls 9-1-1. The phone rings three times before a demonic laugh is heard. After this is a series of screams and pleas for help. Then it goes to static. Sven listens to the static, insure of what to do next. The static stops, and immediately after, the receiver explodes. Sven drops the phone as he attempts to jump out of the way of the flying pieces of plastic and metal, but a few hit his leg. He falls to the ground, and finds that it wasn't anything serious. Sven turns around to look at his brother, but he's gone, leaving nothing but a small puddle of blood. "What's going on?" He turns to look again at what was his phone, but there's now a man standing in his way. Sven stumbles back. "Who are you?" The man looks very pale and his eyes are pure white. He appears to be some kind of drug addict. His mouth hangs open and it doesn't move when he speaks. "I was known once as Slater, I'm here now to save you from your death. You must hide in your room, lock the door. You must remain still until two o' clock tomorrow morning. If you hear any noise at all, you can't so much as breathe, if you wish to be saved." Sven is about to respond to this, but the man collapses. "I guess I was right the first time, today is going to stink." Sven runs to his room and locks the door behind him.**

**---**

**It had been hours since Kaylee began running. The high school was in sight. Her feet had been cut badly along the way. "Stop here." "But, I'm not at the sch-" Kaylee falls to her knees and holds both hands to her head as another sharp pain starts in her head. "Don't question me! Do as I say or you will be killed!" Kaylee slowly stands as the pain goes away and sits against a nearby tree, inspecting her feet. The cuts seem to heal on their own, leaving behind nothing but dried blood. "Do not worry Kaylee, you may not believe it yet, but I ****_am_**** on your side. Sleep here now, I will awake you when it begins." Kaylee finally begins to feel tied again and falls asleep against the tree.**

**---**

**Hyun awakes at eleven o' clock and thinks about the things that had happened that morning. "Who was that guy?" Hyun stands up. "He told me to leave for the high school by noon, and without a word. Should I listen?" "Go, boy, you must!" Hyun looks around and sees no one. "What was that?" No one answers. Deciding to solve what's going on, he leaves, without a word to anyone, to the high school.**

**---**

**Sven lies on his bed, watching the clock from the corner of his eye. The time seems to drag on forever, until it reaches one o' clock. Footsteps can be heard from outside his door. Sven holds his breath and doesn't move a muscle. The steps stop at his door. His doorknob shakes, as if someone is trying to get in. It stops after a moment. Sven waits a second before letting out a sigh of relief. His door flies across the room, a man stands where it had been. "I knew that I smelled the blood of a mortal." The man begins walking slowly towards Sven. Sven rushes to his feet, only to be backed into a wall. The man puts his face a few inches from Sven's, his breath is horrible. "Who are you?" The man laughs. "My name is Mephisto, but from now on, you can refer to me as master." Mephisto raises his claw and begins to bring it down towards Sven. However, he finds himself unable to move his arm. The man who had warned Sven earlier stands behind Mephisto, holding his arm still. "Go Sven! Leave to the high school! If we have any chance, you must leave immediately!" Sven runs around Mephisto and out the door. He picks up some keys on the way, hoping one of them goes to a vehicle. He gets outside and looks through them quickly, none belong to a car. He looks around and finds his dirt bike. He jumps on and speeds off towards the school as his house slowly begins to burn down.**

**---**

**"Kaylee, get up, it's starting earlier than I expected! Wake up, quickly!" Kaylee opens her eyes slowly and looks around. Fires are spreading and cars lay wrecked in the middle of the streets. She jumps up, wide-awake now. "What's going on?" "Don't worry Kaylee, help is coming, you will be OK." Kaylee stands where she is, afraid to disobey the voice in her head. "Do you hear that Kaylee? You must join the boy on that transport. Him and one other will be your allies through this." Kaylee hears a loud motor and then sees Sven, on his bike. "Hey, I need your help!" Sven stops on the side of Kaylee, looking around nervously. "What do you need?" Kaylee looks around. "Can't you see? Please take me with you!" Sven shrugs. "Alright, get on. I'm Sven, how about you?" Kaylee gets onto the seat with Sven. "I'm Kaylee, I was told here to come by-" Kaylee feels a sharp pain in her head and falls sideways off the bike. "Tell him nothing more than your name!" The pain stops and Kaylee looks up at Sven. He helps her up. "Are you alright?" "Um, yeah." The two of them climb onto the bike and ride the rest of the way to the school.**

**---**

**Hyun reaches the school by two thirty. He checks the doors, they're locked. "Now what?" The man in the black cloak appears again. "Wait here, boy, a way in will be made for you in a moment." The man disappears and Hyun sighs. He hears a motor behind him and turns to see Sven on his dirt bike, coming right at him. Hyun jumps out of the way, as Sven turns to look forward. Sven and Kaylee jump from the bike as it smashes through the door. "Man, I only looked away for a second!" Sven stands and wipes the dirt off of his jeans. Hyun stands and looks at the door and then at Sven. "Sven! What's up? Who's your friend?" Hyun makes a motion towards Kaylee with his head. "Hyun, what're you doing here? Oh, and this is Kaylee, we just met down the street." Hyun looks again at the smashed door. "I was told to go to the high school, thanks for opening the door." Sven laughs. "No problem. I was told to come here too, I got attacked by some demon in my house." Hyun feels Sven is making things up and ignores the last statement. "So, do you want to come in too?" Sven nods. "Of course, Hya." Sven helps Kaylee up, who had been laying on ground since the bike crashed. The three of them step over what remains of the dirt bike and enter the main hall of the high school. They walk into the main office before hearing an explosion. The bike had blown up, blocking the entrance and setting fire to the general location. Hyun looks up at the clock, it's three a.m.**


	4. Act XIV

**Act XIV**

**Andrew, Adam, James and the officer sit around in the office now, it's been mostly silent. "You know, we can't just stay here. We'll die of hunger." Everyone turns to look at Adam. James speaks up. "There's a vending machine downstairs, it could help for a bit if we break it open." "How would we defend ourselves if we get attacked?" James sighs. "Look at all of these guns! It shouldn't be a problem." "None of us have ever used a gun before." "Well, we'll just practice a bit first." James picks up a gun, and then makes a mark on the wall with a marker. "Alright, let's see what I can do." James lifts the gun and aims. He shoots and hears glass shatter. His shot went about three feet too far to the left and broke a window. "Whatever, I'll just take a shotgun, at least that thing spreads. James grabs a shotgun with one hand and holds his pipe in the other. Andrew goes up next, he misses just as badly as James had, except doesn't break any glass, he decides to just use his knives. Adam goes last. He shoots and hits the dot directly in the center. James and Andrew stare in amazement. Adam grabs two handguns and the officer takes his usual one. The four unblock the door and go down to the armory. "It's the next door on the left." They hear a loud metal clang. "What was that?" The officer looks nervously upwards. "It sounded like a jail cell opening, but…no, it's just my imagination. I'm sure it was nothing." They continue on and open the door. There they find the vending machine, nearly full. James smashes it open with his pipe and they each take whatever they can hold. However, when they turn to leave, they find a man in the way, he has a long gash in his arm.**

**---**

**"Why were we all called here?" Hyun, Sven and Kaylee had explored more than half of the school already and found nothing. They stop at the top of a third floor stairwell. Hyun looks out the window and sees zombies trying to break in, unsuccessfully. Kaylee falls to her knees and holds her head as another sharp pain goes through her head. She winces as the voice speaks to her once again. "Go to the basement Kaylee, you have time, but little of it." Kaylee opens her eyes and finds Hyun and Sven looking at her with concern. "Are you alright?" "We need to go to the basement. Do you know where that is?" Sven and Hyun look at each other strangely and then back at Kaylee. Sven shrugs. "I do, it's over near the gym." The three of them walk down to the basement and see little there. "Why did you want us to come here, Kaylee?" Kaylee lowers her head. "I don't know, I'm sorry." "…Sorry about what?" Before Kaylee responds, a voice is heard. "Welcome, to the three of you. We have assembles you here, because you are out descendants, the only three who have a chance of surviving this. The man with the black cloak seems to appear from nowhere. "Hyun, you descended from me. Sven, you come from Slater." A man, barely visible appears beside the man in black. "And Kaylee, you descend from the most powerful of us three, Lile." Kaylee feels a sharp pain in her head but it quickly goes away. Immediately after, a woman appears on the other side of the man in black. "Sorry for borrowing your head Kaylee." The woman smiles and laughs a little. The man in black resumes talking. "You obviously weren't summoned here just to learn this. There's much more to it than that. During our time, ten thousand years ago, Lile and Slater defeated eight beings known as the evils, or so they thought. There were only seven sealed away in the pits of Hell. However, the leader of these eight, the Outcast, cannot be killed unless all seven of the others are killed first. To make things worse, the Outcast has the ability to resurrect the other seven with little trouble. So, the only way to defeat the Outcast, as far as we know, is to defeat all eight evils at the exact same time. When Slater cornered the evils in Hell, one of them managed a quick escape, one with the same name as Sven's ancestor here. With her escape, the Outcast remained alive, and now, after ten thousand years, he has freed himself and resurrected the other evils. As you may or may not have realized, these evils have a power that belongs to each. They have the power to infect humans with evil, and control their minds. If an evil is able to scratch any of your arms, all hope is lost." Sven shakes his head, a little confused. "If all of this happened ten thousand years ago, how are you here now?" The man in black laughs. "We were able to use Lile's magic to send you this message from the past. We speak to you now, still ten thousand years in the past. However, this is probably the only time we'll be able to meet like this. A single person's mind being sent to the future requires much energy, so it's very difficult for her to be managing three of us right now. So, only she will remain here with you, to share her wisdom." Lile smiles. "Sorry Kaylee, buy we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on. I'll try to get better at this, so I don't hurt you so badly." Lile disappears and Kaylee feels a slight pain in her head again. The man speaks once more. "Do not trust anyone but each other. You three will be the only ones that survive." After saying this, him and Slater seem to fade away. The three continue staring blankly at where the man had been, thinking of the journey that would lie ahead.**

**---**

**James hits the zombie across the face with the pipe and watches him fall to the ground. "Where'd he come from?" James puts his head outside of the door and looks both ways. "It looks like he was the only one." James looks over at Andrew, who's looking through a silverware drawer. "Let's go back before more show up." Everyone agrees. James picks up the food he dropped onto the ground, and they go down the hall to the stairs. The officer stops. "Wait, what was that?" Everyone stands and listens, there's a slight thump coming from upstairs, and then another, it continues on. James calls out. "If you're alive, say something now or we'll shoot the heck out of you!" There's no response other than continued thumping. "Let's go, if it's a zombie, we'll kill it." They drop whatever food can't be fit into pockets and raise their weapons. James looks at what Andrew had found in the silverware drawer, two large butcher knives. "Woot, these beat pocket knives any day!" James and Adam raise an eyebrow and everyone slowly begins going up the stairs. The thumping gets louder and they soon find the source after reaching the second floor. A zombie stands behind the door to exit the stairwell. He continuously tries to walk through but only succeeds in hitting his head on the door. The officer laughs. "Idiot." He shoots through the window and splatters the zombie's brains on the wall. The officer attempts to put his gun back into its holster but finds that his arm is now missing. He screams in pain before being dragged back down the stairs by about twenty zombies. "Run!" The three turn and run through the door, jumping over the zombie's corpse. They turn towards the office, only to find more zombies flooding out of it. They run to the dispatch room and look at the monitors. The police station is surrounded and all of the caged zombies have managed to escape. They run again, this time to the garage, right near the exit of the station, they quickly lock every door. The three stand still, trying to catch their breath. The door from the hallway flies across the garage. A man stands where it had been. "Ah, you must be strong to have lasted this long mortals." The three look at each other and hold back a laugh. "****_Us_****? No…" The man smirks. "Well then, that should make it all the easier for me to crush you." James raises his shotgun and aims at the man. "Try it." The man takes one step forward and James shoots. The shot bounces off of the man and the pieces fall harmlessly to the floor. "Pitiful." The man pulls a pole from the railing of the stairway. "Now, it's my turn." He throws it at James, impaling him and sticking him to the far wall. James looks down at the pole going through his chest and also realizes his feet are no longer on the ground. He tries to say something, but only blood comes out of his mouth. His vision blurs, and he slumps over, dead. Adam and Andrew stare at James, not sure what to do. After a moment, Andrew breaks the silence. "You'll die for that!" Andrew raises his knives while Adam takes his guns out. Adam shoots, with no effect. Andrew rushes the man, lifting the knives above his head. He begins to bring them down but immediately finds himself on the ground, with a terrible pain in his jaw. He looks up; a second man stands there, a horribly scarred man. Andrew tries to yell something out, but instead coughs up a bloody tooth. "Welcome to Hell, mortals."**


	5. Act XV

**Act XV**

"Lile, where exactly should we start?" "Well, to start, don't search for the first one…it'll…" "Lile?" "Um, sorry Kaylee, something interrupted my spell. As I was saying, it'll come to you." Kaylee shrugs. "Do not hope for it to hurry, you must arm yourselves and prepare." "Arm ourselves? With what? This is a high school!" Lile remains silent. "OK, Sven and Hyun, Lile says we need to arm ourselves because the first evil will come for us here." "Maybe we should check the gym?" Hyun laughs. "Yeah, let's beat down some demons with foam bats." Sven frowns. "It was just a suggestion…" Hyun thinks. "Mr. Jeremiah has those two swords." Sven shrugs. "Sounds like a start, I guess." They leave the basement and move on to room 109. They break the handle off of the door with their hands. Once inside, they beat the lock on the closet with a desk, and with little trouble, break it off. Both Sven and Hyun take a sword from inside the closet. "Hey, what should I do?" "Kaylee, I can share with you some of my powers, as much as I can spare." "What?" "Put out your hand, face your palm towards the wall." Kaylee does as she's told. "OK, one moment." Fire shoots from Kaylee's hand, sending her flying to the ground. The wall in front of her explodes as the fireball hits it. Hyun and Sven stare at Kaylee wide-eyed. "What did you do?" Kaylee remains silent, being unsure herself. "Oops, I sent a bit too much, sorry. Anyway, I should be able to get better at it, and help you in that way." Kaylee nods and lifts herself to the ground. Sven looks around the room, waving the sword around aimlessly. "So, now what?" Hyun shrugs. "We wait."

---

"James, wake up. You have a lot of work ahead of you." James' eyes open quickly. He jumps off of the ground and uses both hands to check for the hole in his chest, but there's no sign of it. "James, are you listening to me?" James looks around but only sees darkness. "Who's there?" The voice laughs. "Don't you worry about that." James prepares to ask something else but is interrupted. "_Or_ about where you are. I have a job for you; complete it and perhaps you will survive. To start, you must shatter the wall in front of you." "…And then?" "Do that first." James reaches out into the darkness and feels a wall in front of him. It's surprisingly soft and seems to crumble with just a touch. Behind the wall is a circular room, with winged creatures, none of which notice him. "Are those angels or something?" The voice sounds angry. "Stop asking questions and just do as I say. In that room, there are three seals, not the animal either, the magic kind." James sighs and shakes his head. "I'm not stupid, you didn't need to specify." "Anyway, go inside and destroy each of these, and do NOT get caught!" James shrugs. "Yeah, a big open circular room with no hiding places and I can't get caught? Are you insane?" "Do you want to return Earth?" James waits for the being closest to him to turn around before running in. The first seal was in front of within a second. With only a tap, it breaks in two. James wonders, "Why is everything here so brittle?" He sees the second seal now, and its guard had gone down a corridor James hadn't noticed before. He rushes over and breaks it. "Run now to the third, if you're fast, it'll be OK." James shrugs and runs for the third seal. A guard spots him. "Stop right there, boy!" James ignores him and smashes the final seal. "No! Do you realize what you've done?" James shrugs. "No, not really." The room starts to shake and the center of it begins to glow brightly. A black mist rises from the ground, and a demonic looking woman seems to appear. The guard stares in horror. "No! She's free!" The woman looks nervously as the black mist gathers together to make a sphere, and flies at James' face. He blacks out.

---

Hyun, Sven and Kaylee sit around room 109, half asleep. Sven yawns. "Exactly how long do we wait?" Hyun sighs and stares at the floor. "Kaylee, prepare yourself, keep Hyun and Sven awake." Kaylee jumps at the sudden sound of Lile's voice. "Hyun, Sven, I think something's about to happen." The two of them look sleepily at Kaylee before lifting their swords. "Like what?" Kaylee shrugs. "I don't know. Lile, what's going on?" Lile's voice is too soft to be deciphered. "Lile?" There's no answer. There's a loud bang in the hall. "Stay away from the door." Kaylee and Hyun take Sven's advice. The door handle shakes slightly before the entire door flies through a window on the other side of the room. Zombies crawl in through the windows, but remain still once inside. A man enters the room. Sven stares wide-eyed. "I-I know you! You're that demon from my house, Mephisto!" Mephisto laughs evilly. "So, mortal, you're still alive? Oh, and you've brought living friends this time?" Sven and Hyun raise their swords. "Stay back, or we'll kill you." Mephisto laughs again. "Try it, boy." Hyun runs at Mephisto with his sword raised, he brings it down at Mephisto, but misses, only scratching him. "I see you're no regular mortal, perhaps I'll need to try a little if I'm to beat you."

---

James wakes up on the floor of the circular room, his head is pounding. Holding it, he stands up and looks around. The winged beings lie dead around the room. "Woah, what happened?" "Good job James, you've completed your first mission. Go to the first room again and I'll get you out of there." James does as he's told and finds himself rising into the air. He rises for almost an hour before finally reaching the top. He stands in a charred field. In front of him stands a horribly scarred man. To his sides stand Adam and Andrew, each with a long gash in their right arm.

---

Sven stands backed against the wall by Mephisto. He holds Mephisto's claws back with his sword, both are pushing, but neither can make any real progress. "C'mon, Hyun or Kaylee, I could really use your help!" Both stare blankly at the demon, not sure what to do. Kaylee lifts her hands a moment later and aims it at Mephisto. Streams of flames shoot from it, igniting Mephisto. Kaylee looks down at her hand happily and then back at Mephisto. Mephisto turns to look at Kaylee, leaving Sven alone. "Ah, so we have a magic user, do we? I thought that magic was lost during this time." The three stare at the burning man, confused. "What? Did you think a little fire would defeat a demon?" The fire slowly goes out, appearing to have had very little effect on Mephisto. He starts to laugh and Hyun rushes him. Before Mephisto notices, Hyun slices off his arm. "What's this? A mortal has taken my arm? I've truly grown weak." What remains of Mephisto's arm slowly drips pure black blood. "No matter, I'll only need one to defeat the three of you. It's time for me to stop playing around." The three stare at him nervously as he smirks. "Chain lightning!" Mephisto raises his arm and lightning flies from it, three bolts, one meant for each Kaylee, Sven and Hyun. It hits both Sven and Hyun, who fall to the ground, twitching. However, it seems to have no effect on Kaylee. "I'll do what I can to protect you, Kaylee." Kaylee shakily nods. "Thank you, Lile." Mephisto quickly loses his smirk. "What was that?" Kaylee stares at Mephisto, scared. "What was what?" "That name you just said?" "L-Lile?" "I thought we were rid of that wretched woman!" Kaylee feels herself losing control of her body. She panics but is unable to move. "Ha, who is the wretched one, demon? Who dedicates their lives to spreading pain? Not I." Kaylee feels herself raise her hand. "This time, stay dead." Mephisto explodes, blood sprays around the room, Mephisto has been defeated. Kaylee feels herself gain control of her body again and slowly limps towards the door before falling unconscious to the ground.


	6. Act XVI

**Act XVI**

James sits in a dark room, alone. He's unable to see a thing. For no apparent reason, he laughs a little. "I think I'm losing my mind!" He falls onto his side and smiles. "You are." "Hm? Who's there? No one. OK." James laughs a little again. "I am here with you, you're not alone. Don't make the mistake of thinking you are." James stares at the wall, smiling still. "I see no one, so no one exists! Think about it." "Fool, you exist, and I exist. Outside of here many exist. Knock it off and get up!" James stops smiling. "Hey, you! Don't you tell me what to do! Where are you?" James feels himself coming back to his senses and stands up. "Answer me! Where are you?" No one answers and James sighs. The door to the room unlocks and opens. The scarred man stands there, and turns on the light. He looks at James' arm and then leaves immediately. James looks down at his arm, from his fingers up to his elbow had become a pure black color. "What's this?" He checks if he can still move it and has no trouble. "Well, he left the door open, maybe he wants me to follow?"

---

Nearly a week had passed before anything moved within the school. Mephisto's infected had been returned to normal and now search for those who have died. Not admitting why, they first thought to check the school. Secretly, they had each been told through a dream. They enter the school, and search. They search and find nothing until the reach room 109. Blood covers the floor and the walls, and inside lied Hyun, Sven and Kaylee. They remain still, a pale white, on the floor. The search team removes the three of them from the bloody room and check their pulses. None of the three appear to be alive.

---

Over the course of this week, James had become friends with the scarred man. Adam and Andrew had remained around as well. However, the man revealed little about himself and wouldn't allow any of the three to leave the building, warning them of the zombies. Everything that had happened earlier seemed to have been dream, all appeared to be well. However, the same night that Hyun, Sven and Kaylee were found, things changed. James is on the second floor of the house, here there's a door that's usually locked, but now it had been left open. James walks in and hears a splash at his feet. He looks down to find that he's standing in a puddle of blood. He looks over and finds the light switch. After switching the lights on, he looks around the room in terror. Inside is a slaughtered family, blood is splattered on the walls and the floor has become a pool of it. James starts backing out of the room, staring wide-eyed still at the remains of the family, but bumps into something. He turns around quickly and finds the scarred man. "What're you doing, boy?" James feels a sharp pain in his right arm. He falls to his knees, holding his wrist and screaming in pain as the darkness expands further down his arm.

---

However, Kaylee, Hyun and Sven had met far worse fates than James. Both Sven and Hyun were discovered to have been killed by a searing electrical force. Kaylee was even more unfortunate, her brain had exploded. No one could find an explanation for why. The funeral for all who had been found dead would be held later that day.

---

"Why are there dead bodies up there?" The man stares evilly at James. "Don't you question me, boy. Sit and I'll explain what I feel like explaining." James sits on a nearby chair and eyes the man suspiciously. "My name is unknown to most, but I'm referred to as the Outcast. I am one of the eight beings who together rule over Hell. Ten thousand years ago, we were defeated, left for dead. However, I survived. Now, I have another chance to accomplish my goal. The only chance this world had were the three descendants of those who stopped me before, Kaylee, Sven and Hyun." James looks up at the Outcast as his memories return to him again. "I know them! What'd you do?" The Outcast laughs. "I did nothing, but they're dead." James jumps up and pushes the Outcast to the side. The Outcast laughs as James runs from the building.

---

The funeral has begun, at the church nearby the high school. The infected keep all who had been saved within a small area. The only bodies that had been found were the ones belonging to Kaylee, Sven and Hyun. The three of them lay in closed coffins at the front of the crowd. All is silent, as the people pray. Until someone notices James coming from further down the street. "What's wrong with his arm? Was he burned in a fire?" James glares at the man. "Are you talking about me?" The man gets a sudden feeling of indescribable fear and walks away without a word. James pushes past everyone as he walks up to the three coffins. Everyone stares silently at him. He raises his darkened arm. "I sacrifice what remains of my humanity, so that the three of you may live!" The sky darkens and the earth shakes. James falls to his knees, holding his arm up with his other hand. He screams in pain as the darkness spreads through most of his body, taking over everything from the neck down. Everything becomes quiet again and James slowly stands while lowering his arm. He removes the cover of each of the three coffins. "Get up, now." Sven sits up. "James? What's going on?" The crowd starts to scream in terror. "He's one of them! He's raising the dead! Kill him and those three before they kill us all!" James frowns and turns towards the crowd. "Sven, Hyun and Kaylee, go now. I didn't revive you for yourselves, I did it because you three are the only hope remaining for this world. I will hold these people back, don't worry about me." Kaylee, Sven and Hyun climb out of their coffins silently and begin to run back to the school. Kaylee turns for a moment. "Thank you James! Good luck!" James nods to her as she continues to run. "I can't use it, I've already doomed myself."


	7. Act XVII

**Act XVII**

The Outcast sits on a chair, hunched over with his hands together at his mouth, thinking. Andrew walks into the room and pauses for a moment before speaking. "Is something wrong, master?" The Outcast turns to Andrew. "No, no, everything's going according to plan." He stands and walks to a nearby shelf. From it, he takes down two long swords, which he then hands to Andrew. "Although, I do have a job for you."

---

"Kaylee! You're alive?" Kaylee looks around the area with an eyebrow raised. "What? Oh! Lile, hi! Yeah, James found a way to bring us all back." "Oh no…why would he do that?" "What?" "Hm? Oh, nothing. I must apologize Kaylee; it's my fault you were killed. I let my anger take over, and sent far too much power through, your body couldn't take it. It did get the job done, but…" Kaylee is silent. Hyun, Sven and Kaylee reach room 109 a few moments later, looking for their swords. The room remains unchanged from when Mephisto was killed. "Well, I guess a lot has happened since we were killed, huh?" Hyun looks around the room. "Did we do this?" Kaylee shakes her head as she removes a sword from a puddle of blood. "Lile said that she managed to kill Mephisto." She hands the sword to Hyun as Sven picks up the other one. "So, what do we do next? Has Lile said?" Kaylee shakes her head. "No." They leave the school once more. They stand outside the entrance of the school and Hyun paces back and forth, looking at the damage caused by Sven's dirt bike. "Well, what're we supposed to do? We can't just sit here while the world is being destroyed." Sven shrugs. "Why not? It's fine here." Hyun is silent. "I was just kidding…" Kaylee seems to jump up. "Kaylee, your friend may have ruined all chances of your survival! I'm having much trouble getting through to you! I need you to go towards the police station, you'll find the second evil there!" "Lile? What're you talking about?" Lile doesn't answer. "Sven, Hyun, we need to go to the police station." Sven shrugs and turns to find James a few feet away. He stands there, his skin is completely back to normal. His eyes remain closed and he smiles. "I'll be joining you. Let's go." James turns and beings walking before they can argue. They run and catch up to him. "What happened to those people who attacked you?" James continues to smile. "Don't worry about it." They pass by the church a few seconds later, nothing remains but ashes, and the grass is charred.

---

Adam wakes up in his old bed. He jumps up and looks around his room. "Was it…all a dream?" He looks down at his arm and finds the scar left by the Outcast. "No, it wasn't. What's going on?" Adam notices two machine guns on the floor beside his bed and picks them up. He slowly leaves the room and looks around. Not a noise can be heard. He sneaks down the stairs and opens his front door. "Wow, that fire did almost no damage…did I imagine it?" He turns around and sees his brother, Alex. Adam backs away, aiming one of the guns at his brother. "Back off, Alex!" "Whoa! Put down the gun, man!" Alex backs away now. "Shoot him." "What?" "Shoot him!" Alex stares wide-eyed as Adam argues with himself. "Why?" "He's already tried to kill you once, he'll do it again!" "But…!" "DO IT!" Adam shakily begins to pull the trigger of the gun. "I'm sorry, Alex." Adam shoots multiple times at Alex, who falls onto the ground, dead, blood covers the wall behind him. Adam falls his knees and holds back tears. "Why…why would you make me do that?" "Don't worry Adam, no one will know what you did, if you do exactly as I say." "We've seen what that'll get me!" "Here's a different perspective for you then. Do as I say, or die."

---

James, Hyun, Sven and Kaylee reach the police station. The few infected along the way seemed to avoid them, running off into wooded areas. They stand at the front entrance. "So, where exactly is the evil Kaylee?" James turns to look at Kaylee. "Um…inside I guess?" Sven raises an eyebrow at James. "Why have you had your eyes closed since you met back up with us?" James shrugs, and ignores Sven. "Let's go inside then." They open the front door and move in, there's no sign of anyone. "Let's check out dispatch." James turns left and the others follow. "The cameras still seem to work." Sven, Hyun and Kaylee wonder how James could even see the monitors, but ignore it for now. They each examine the monitors closely. Kaylee points to the break room, containing the vending machine. "It looks like there was some kind of struggle here and…" She moves her finger to the garage monitor. "It made it's way over here. She squints. "Is that…a body hanging from the wall?" The monitor explodes and James turns around. "Let's go." Sven, Hyun and Kaylee look at each other strangely. "Does something seem strange about him to you?" Hyun nods. "He's been acting strange since we met up with him." James calls out from the hall. "Are you coming or not?" The three run to catch up with James. "Where exactly are we going?" James shrugs. "How should I know? Isn't that why we went to the dispatch room?" Kaylee raises and eyebrow but continues to follow James. They cut through an office and come to James' father's office. They go in and find guns spread around. "How did you know these were here?" James ignores Sven. "Ah, so they did bring them back for me." James picks up an old pipe and a shotgun. "I still don't understand how you can even see." James sighs. "Would you drop it? I'm perfectly happy with my eyes close, don't ruin it for me. Now, if you don't mind, let's go and kill Nihlathak." "Who?" James once again ignores Sven. "LET'S GO." James quickly turns around and begins walking. "He seems pretty mad about something." The three laugh nervously as they follow James. They quickly find themselves at the entrance to the garage. "Nihlathak! Get out here!" James seems to be shaking nervously now. He kicks down the door. "Quickly, follow me!" It's obvious that something is wrong. They run into the garage. A man can be heard laughing; he seems to appear from thin air. "Back for more, are you? James was it?" Kaylee looks to the body she had seen on the wall from the monitor. "Oh my god? Is that…?" She looks back and forth between James' lifeless body and his current one. "How?" James frowns. "There's a big difference between me then and now, Nihlathak." Nihlathak laughs loudly. "You couldn't touch me then, and you still can't." James laughs now. "We'll see about that."

---

"How could you make me kill my brother?" Adam stands now. "You, boy, are going to be my right hand man. _If_ you can complete the mission I give to you. You are to destroy Hyun, Sven and Kaylee, and you must complete this mission before Andrew is able to complete his." "What? I refuse to do any such thing!" The voice laughs. "Don't think that you have the ability to make a decision like that. You may be able to move freely for now, but I still have control over you." Adam puts one of his guns to his head. "I'd rather die!" "Try it." Adam lowers the gun and sighs. "Well, do I get anything other than a military position?"


	8. Act XVIII

**Act XVIII**

Nihlathak materializes a bone spear in his hand. James smirks. "Throw it, I dare you." "Very well, if you want another quick death." Nihlathak tosses the spear at James, but he seems to disappear entirely. The spear shatters on the concrete wall. "What's this? Where'd you go?" "Right here." James thrusts his pipe through Nihlathak's chest from behind. Nihlathak coughs up blood. "At least you get to die the same way the future ruler of this world did." Nihlathak frowns. "I'll just come back anyway, the Outcast will revive me!" Nihlathak coughs up more blood. "Is that right? I don't think that I believe you." James removes the pipe from Nihlathak and shoves his hand into the hole, removing his heart. Nihlathak falls to the ground, dead. "James, what the heck did you just do?" James laughs. "What does it look like I did? I pulled his heart out." James takes a big bite out of Nihlathak's heart. "If you are to destroy an evil for good, you must absorb their energy immediately after their death. What better way than through their heart?" James shoves the second half of the heart into his mouth and swallows. "But you need a strong mind, because with all of the evil energy you absorb, you could become worse than the evil was to begin with. In fact, I say that there isn't a single person alive that could even handle one." The three stare at James. "What are you talking about? Are you crazy?" James smiles. "Me? Crazy? No, of course not. Actually, yes, I am." James laughs. "I guess I'm a bit of both. You know, when you have three beings fighting for control of your mind, strange things can happen to you." James stops laughing suddenly and he stops smiling. He falls to his knees and holds his hands to his head. "Run! I'm losing control entirely now!" The three stand still, having no idea what's going on, or of what James is talking about. James' eyes jump open, they're a pure black, and the darkness seems to spread from his eyes, slowly over the rest of his body. James screams in pain. "Quickly! Before it's too late!" Kaylee pauses for a moment before turning to rush out, she turns again when she reaches the door. "Come on!" James looks up at Sven and Hyun, they collapse onto the ground. James jumps to his feet and laughs loudly, entirely a dark black color now. Kaylee stands still, frozen with fear. James seems to teleport directly in front of Kaylee and puts his hand around her neck. He raises her a foot above the floor and holds her against the wall. "Ready to die again, Lile?" Kaylee tries to scream but it just comes out as a gurgle. James raises his shotgun to Kaylee's head. "James, drop her, the Outcast has sent me to stop you." James turns his head to find Andrew. "Hm, very well then." James drops Kaylee, who falls unconscious to the floor. "Although, why would he stop me from killing them?" Andrew shrugs. "He didn't, it's just the timing, I'm here to kill you, and you alone." James smiles innocently. "Aw, but I thought the Outcast was my ally?" Andrew shakes his head. "I don't know his reasoning, but he said that you needed to be dealt with. Perhaps you're taking too long to finish changing." "Ah well, I'll just need to kill you and talk this over with him myself." James quickly picks up his pipe from the ground and throws it at Andrew, it grazes his cheek. James smirks. "I see the infection has increased your abilities, no normal human could get out of the way of that." Andrew unsheathes both of his swords. "I'm tired of talking to you! I'm here to kill you, and that's all that I'm going to do!" Andrew rushes towards James and swings his swords wildly, but misses every shot. James continues to dodge the swords and laughs. "You may have powers from the infection, but I have a different power, a much greater power." James punches Andrew in the stomach, but he keeps swinging his swords. "I don't care about your powers! Stop talking and fight me!" James finds himself backed against a wall. "Very well." James reaches out and a puts a hand around both blades. He holds them still, black blood dripping from his palms. He then pulls both swords away and throws one to his left and to his right. "But we'll do it hand to hand." Andrew's face turns bright red with anger. "Die!" He uses James as a human punching bag, using both hands, punching as fast as he can manage at James' stomach. James laughs again. "Stop, stop! You're tickling me!" James continues to laugh for a few more seconds while Andrew punches him. "OK, now it's my turn!" James uses his right fist to hit Andrew once in the face and his left to get him in the stomach. Andrew flies backwards and hits the opposite wall of the garage. Andrew seems unable to move and James begins to walk slowly towards him. Meanwhile, Kaylee wakes up. She finds that she has lost control of her body once again. Her hand jumps up and points at Andrew. She feels an unbearable pain in her head and wants to scream, but is unable to. James now stands directly in front of Andrew. "Sorry buddy, mission failed." James smirks, but before he can do anything, a huge fireball shoots from Kaylee's hand. Nothing seems to catch fire, but the side of the garage disintegrates and both James and Andrew seem to have disappeared into thin air. Kaylee feels herself regain control of her body as the pain fades away, and there, she slowly goes into a peaceful sleep.


	9. Act XIX

**Act XIX**

Adam lies on the grass, staring at the sky and yawns. "I have no idea where to start." "Oh, I'm sorry, did I leave that part out?" The voice laughs. "All five of them are at the police station." "All five?" "Kaylee, Sven, Hyun, James and Andrew." Adam rushes to his feet. "Aw, man, they left me out?" He wipes the dirt from his pants. "Meh, whatever, I'll still kill all three of them before Andrew can even touch James." Adam stretches out and begins walking towards the police station once more.

---

Kaylee wakes up and looks around. She slowly remembers what had happened the night before. She gets to her feet and runs to Sven. She shakes him, his skin is ice cold. "Hey, get up!" "Huh? What? What's going on?" Sven slowly opens his eyes and sits up. Kaylee ignores his questions for the moment and crawls over to Hyun. His skin is just as cold as Sven's, but he gets up as well. He stretches his arms. "Hyaaaa! What's up?" Kaylee raises an eyebrow and stands. "Well, I guess we all survived a fight." Sven looks around the room. "Hey, what exactly happened last night? And where's James?" "What? You don't remember James attacking you?" Sven shrugs. "No? Isn't he on our side though? He killed Nihlathak." "I don't know, he did it pretty randomly. I'm starting to think that there's a lot more than just two sides." Kaylee jumps as she hears Lile talking to her. "Kaylee, you need to get an, um, airplane. That's what it's called, right?" "What? An airplane? Why on earth would we need an airplane?" "The evils were trying to split the land into sections, for each to rule. Eight was a little tough, but with Nihlathak, they don't even need to change the current maps. Each of the seven evils will take control of one continent, which you'll need a flying machine of some sort to get to them quickly enough. I can handle the controls, you just find me one." "Wait, did you just say seven evils? Didn't we already kill two?" "Yes, well, Mephisto was revived minutes after his death. The strongest of the evils, the Outcast can revive them, remember? Nihlathak will remain dead because James has absorbed him." "So, we died for nothing then…" Kaylee quickly changes the subject. "Shouldn't we be able to take down the evil of this continent before we leave?" "No. The Outcast is taking all of North America, and he can't be killed until all seven of his brothers and sisters are disposed of." "Oh, OK then. One more question. Why were you so rushed before?" Kaylee feels a slight pain in her head for a moment and Lile doesn't answer. Kaylee turns to Sven and Hyun who had been waiting patiently. "So, we need a plane?" Kaylee nods. "Well then, let's find an airport."

---

Adam stands in front of the police station. People wander around aimlessly, not too sure of what happened. Adam ignores them for now, searching for Sven, Kaylee and Hyun. "Outcast, are they still here?" "They're just leaving now, you should be able to catch them. Oh, and if you see Andrew, tell him to come to me, he completely misinterpreted his mission." Adam nods and crouches behind a bush, waiting for the three. A voice comes from behind him. "You! What're you doing with a gun?" Adam turns to find ten officers pointing their guns at him. He slowly stands with his arms raised. "Whoa man, take it easy. I'm just a kid!" "With two machine guns." Adam smiles innocently. "They're not even real, don't worry about it." Adam sees Sven, Kaylee and Hyun walking by out of the corner of his eye. "I really need to go officer, c'mon." "Do you think I'm stupid? Those machine guns came from our armory, they say SKPD right on them! Even if you didn't intend to kill anyone, you stole the guns and don't have a license to be carrying them around!" Adam sighs. "Give me your hands, you're coming in." The officer lowers his gun for a moment to get his handcuffs, and Adam wastes no time. He grabs his guns from their holsters and falls backwards as he shoots. The officers are unable to land a shot before each of them fall to the ground. The one in front of Adam gurgles a little as blood leaks from his mouth. Adam stands on his neck with one foot and pushes down. "Don't question me." He aims the gun at the officer's head and blows it off. "Hm, now where was I?" Adam looks around, but sees no one. "Where'd they go?" "They ran back inside after hearing the gunshots. Just wait where you are, they'll come to you." Adam sighs. "Fine."

---

The three pace around the garage, thinking about how to get out of their current situation. "I have an idea, do you see a screwdriver anywhere?" Kaylee and Hyun look at Sven for a second and then search through the rubble for a screwdriver. "Hey, I got one!" Kaylee pulls a screwdriver from the rubble. Sven shrugs. "Good enough, let's go." Sven walks over to a police cruiser and the others follow him. He raises his sword and smashes the car window in. "Can I have the screwdriver Kaylee?" Kaylee nods and hands the screwdriver over. Sven unlocks the door, gets in and jams the screwdriver into the ignition. It starts up. "OK, let's go." Hyun and Kaylee get into the back seat and buckle up. Sven backs out of the parking space. "Alright, we're going to the airport, shouldn't take long with no speed limits." Sven smiles as he heads towards the exit of the parking lot.

---

Just as Adam thinks about going in after the three, he hears a loud noise from behind him. He turns around quickly to see Sven speed by in a police car. He pulls out his machine guns and shoots at the car, he covers the back of it with holes, but it keeps going. "Adam, you must follow them, don't allow them to leave the continent." "Why would they be leaving the continent?" "Just go, now!" Adam shrugs and begins to run after the car.

---

Sven hears Kaylee scream in pain as the bullets stop. "Did you get hit?" Kaylee holds onto her shoulder as blood leaks out. She tries to speak, but is unable over her crying. Hyun looks for some kind of cloth to wrap around her wound but can't find anything. "Why isn't Lile just healing her? She's going to bleed to death!" The car stops suddenly. "Sven, what're you doing?" "It's not me!" Sven stomps on the accelerator and the wheels screech, but the car goes nowhere. Hyun turns around to see Adam holding the car in place. "Oh my god Hya! Are you serious? How could he catch up to us?" Adam smirks. "My master has told me to dispose of you." Adam removes one machine gun and raises it, still holding the car still with his other hand. Hyun watches as Kaylee passes out from the blood loss. "No! You're going down Adam!" Before Hyun can even move, Adam gets tackled to the ground and car lurches forward, going full speed.

---

"Get off of me!" Adam tosses Andrew off of him and hurries to his feet. "What do you think you're doing? We're on the same team!" Andrew smiles and shrugs. "We're on the same team, but we don't have the same mission to accomplish." "Oh, wait, that reminds me! The Outcast told me to send you to him, but I know what he wants to say. You're not supposed to kill James, you need to get him to morph entirely and then join us again." Andrew sighs. "Ugh, how disappointing. Although, that's even more reason that you can't complete your mission before mine." "What? Why not?" "James' mind has not been taken over completely, as you just said, and if he discovered that three of his friends, ones that he sacrificed his life for, had been killed, he would most likely regain control of his body. If that were to happen, how could we get control over him?" Adam sighs. "Yeah, well, I don't care. Why should it matter to me if you fail? If I want to become second in command, I must complete my mission first." Adam pushes Andrew back a little with one of his guns. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that Adam." Andrew draws both of his swords and smirks. "Bring it on."

---

Once Sven gets the car back to a speed he's used to, he asks about Kaylee. "Is she still bleeding?" Hyun looks over at Kaylee's shoulder and most of the blood seems dry, but she looks pale. "I don't think so." Kaylee jumps up. "What's going on?" "I'm sorry I took so long Kaylee, something was blocking my magic again. You should be fine now though." Kaylee lifts her sleeve to check her shoulder, there's a small bump and a lot of dried blood. "I couldn't remove the bullet, but it shouldn't affect you." "Thank you, Lile." Sven smiles. "I'm glad you're OK, and to add to the good news, we should reach the airport in about five minutes." Hyun smiles too. "Woot, those dudes are going down, Hya!"

---

"What is the meaning of this? You two put your weapons away immediately or I will kill you both personally!" Both Adam and Andrew sigh as they put their weapons away. "Well, if the Outcast commands it. Let's follow the three of them, they'll probably lead us to James and then we can kill all four of them at once." Adam sighs and nods. "Fine." The two of them run after the car immediately.

---

"Alright, we're here. Let's just climb over that fence so we can get right to the planes" Hyun and Kaylee nod and get out of the police car. The three go over to the fence and climb it with ease. "So, which one should we take?" Hyun shrugs. "None of us know anything about airplanes." Sven looks around. "I guess some of the medium-sized ones would be fastest." Kaylee points to a small plane to their left. "How's that one?" Sven shrugs. "Why not?" The three walk over to the plane and opens the door, a dead body falls out at them. Kaylee falls backwards onto Hyun and quickly jumps back up. "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE FREEZING!" Kaylee starts to shiver. Sven and Hyun look at each other and shrug. The three climb into the plane and examine the controls. "So, um, how exactly are we supposed to fly this Kaylee?" The plane turns on on it's own. "Lile says that she has it under control." The plane starts to back up. "Alright then, should be easy once we're in the air."

---

"What's that noise?" Adam listens carefully. "Hm, sounds like a plane. They're probably about to take off." Andrew frowns and crosses his arms. "Well, that's no good." Adam runs over to the fence and climbs over it. "Come on, shouldn't be difficult to catch them." Andrew follows after as they chase the plane. "See? It's right there." As Adam gets up to the plane, he flies backwards and lands hard on the ground. "What're you doing?" Adam gets to his feet as the plane takes off. "It looks like Kaylee has learned telekinesis." Andrew sighs. "She won't be using that trick twice. It looks like we're gonna need to get a ride over there with Diablo, the evils should be getting here soon."


	10. Act XX

**Act XX**

Sven yawns and glances at the clock. "Well, it's been about six hours, we should be getting close to Mexico." Sven looks over to Kaylee and Hyun, both of which are sleeping. Sven turns back towards the front window and sees a pure black object on the front of the plane. "What is that?" He squints in an attempt to see it better. "Is it…a person?" The figure smiles, and waves goodbye to Sven. It flies back a little, off of the plane, still waving. "What's it doing?" The plane suddenly lurches forward, knocking Sven to the ground as the engine shuts off. Hyun and Kaylee are wide-awake again, all the lights are off and the plane is diving down. All that the three are able to see is the land getting closer and the black figure remaining a foot or two ahead of the plane. The figure laughs the entire time, until almost the end. It suddenly looks up with a straight face, before disappearing. The lights turn back on immediately and the plane begins upwards again. The three let out a sigh of relief. "What the heck was that thing?"

---

"Hm, I know that I sensed Andrew and Adam somewhere around here." The figure flies around the sky, in search of a plane. "Ah, there they are." It flies over to a commercial airplane and breaks the door open with its hands, goes inside and seals the hole with some kind of force field. "What're you doing here?" The figure looks over at Adam and smirks. "Is that any way to greet a friend?" Adam frowns. "You are no longer James, you look more and more like _her_ every minute! And your attitude is changing in the exact same way." James shrugs. "Is that bad?" Adam shrugs. "Well, honestly, it doesn't affect me one way or the other." "Then go away and stop talking to me. I've got a score to settle with Andrew." "Whoa, it may be fine for you to be evil and all, but you can't just go attacking your own teammates." "I wasn't asking you Adam, I suggest you move." Adam remains still with his hands on his guns. "Very well, if that's how you want to be." James swipes his arm and Adam flies into the sidewall. James moves on, towards the cockpit. He breaks the door down. "Yo, are you here Andrew?" James smirks. "C'mon, I know you're here." Andrew slowly stands from the co-pilot seat. "It looks like your eyes are going, buddy. I'm right here. And cut the act, you're not James, don't attempt to talk like him." James smiles and shrugs. "Very well. I assume you know why I'm here?" "Of course." Andrew puts his hands on the hilts of his swords. "You know that there's no one here to save you this time, right Andrew?" "Like I'll need it." Andrew quickly pulls his blades and lunges at James. "Sure about that?" James disappears and reappears behind Andrew. "Running away?" Andrew jumps to the side as a fireball flies past him. "I'm not as weak as I was the first time." James laughs. "Neither am I, and I'll only get stronger." Andrew quickly stomps out the fire before turning around. "If you don't join us, you realize that the Outcast will destroy you, don't you?" "I'd like the see him try." James grabs Andrew by his wrist and throws him at the wall. Andrew slowly crawls back to his feet. "I wasn't paying attention, no fair." Andrew's eyes quickly move to the side and James sighs. "Adam, I know you're there, don't bother trying to sneak up." James turns to find Adam with one of his guns to the front window. "See ya." He shoots out the window, and as James flies out, seals it with the same type of force field James had sealed the door with. James bangs on the field, but it does nothing. "Very well, but if you think you've won, you're mistaken. James disappears without another word.

- - -

The three have finally managed to calm down after being attacked. "So, we should be there very soon, within a couple of minutes I guess." Hyun and Kaylee look at Sven and nod. The next few minutes are uneventful as the plane lands in the middle of a street. "So, this is South America?" The three hop out of the plane and look around. "Something is weird about this place." Sven draws his sword and listens closely. "What's wrong with it?" "It's...normal." A crowd of confused people surround the plane and the three, speaking spanish or some other language that they can't understand. "Um, yo, do any of you speak spanish?" The people look at Sven with an eyebrow raised. "I guess that's a no?" The three shrug. "The evils haven't come here yet, but this will be their first stop." Kaylee shrugs. "I guess we're waiting then. The evils aren't here." Sven sighs. "So we deal with the people speaking a different language until then."

- - -

"Thanks for the help Diablo, we would've been doomed without you." "Whatever, mortal. If I wasn't forced to pilot this airship or whatever you call it, I could've defeated her on my own." Adam sighs. "You realize we can't kill him, right? The Outcast just wants him captured so that he'll join us." "I don't care what the Outcast wants, I want my revenge on that woman!" "Jeez, would you let it go, man?" "Shut up and sit down, we're landing." Adam sits down and puts on his seatbelt as the plane begins to descend. Andrew flies forward into the forcefield and falls to the ground, unable to get up. "Son of a-! You could've warned me!" Adam shakes his head and sighs. "He did, fool."

- - -

"I don't know what you're saying!" Sven gets knocked back into a wall by an officer who yells at him in another language. "Leave him alone!" Kaylee punches the officer in the face and he falls sideways onto the ground. Officers immediately swarm around the three of them. "Put your hands up!" Sven sighs. "Sure, now someone speaks english." The three raise their hands as the officers take their swords and the gets pushed into the back of a police car. "Nooo! Now what Hya?" "Jeez, calm down, man. We need to waste some time anyway." Kaylee can't seem to stop shaking and looks very nervous. "We just got arrested in a country that doesn't speak english! How can we be calm at all?" Sven sighs. "Good point."

- - -

Adam opens the door of the plane as they lands but finds that they're surrounded by a crowd of people. "Umm..." "C'mon Adam, move." Andrew pushes Adam out of the plane, into the crowd. "Back off!" Adam raises his guns and the people back away. "Don't scare them all off, boy." Diablo steps out of the plane. "That's my job." The people stare in terror as Diablo descends the steps of the plane. Adam puts his guns away and shrugs. "Very well, I'll just go find Hyun, Sven and Kaylee." He pushes his way out of the crowd. Andrew looks to Diablo. Shall we begin?"


	11. Act XXI

**Act XXI**

Sven jumps out of a sleep to find himself in a dark jail cell. He puts his hands to his head and sighs. "So we really were arrested, huh?" He looks around the cell, looking for Hyun and Kaylee. Hyun is laying on a cot, sleeping, Kaylee is nowhere to be found. Sven stands, realizing that he had been laying on the concrete floor. "Damnit, now what?" He looks down to find his sword missing and sighs again. Hyun moves around a little but Sven doesn't want to wake him up, it's been a while since they had been able to take a rest. Suddenly, Sven hears slow footsteps from the hall, he walks up to the bars to investigate. He stumbles backwards in fear the moment he sees what's causing the noise. A pure black figure, so dark that it's shape could be made out in the darkness of the hall with ease. It was James. James stops in front of the cell and turns his head to look at Sven. Sven notices that the darkness has begun to recede on James' right arm, but it's clearly different. The arm is slender and tanned, clearly feminine. "You're not James." James smirks. "Not for much longer." "What do you want?" James walks through the still barred door, into the cell. Sven slowly backs away a couple more steps. "Why do you think that I'm here, Sven? You are going to join me." "What makes you think that I'd do that? I'd rather die!" James chuckles and raises his hand, a blue orb appears above it. "You'll join me because I own your soul." Sven raises his eyebrow. "What?" "You heard me, boy. As long as I have your soul, I have complete control over you." James closes his hand tightly around the orb. Sven immediately begins to feel dizzy and his vision begins to fade. "This will be fun, Sven." James smiles as Sven falls face first into the floor.

- - -

Kaylee sits in her own cell, alone. The police had taken her to a separate prison, for females, there's very little light. She wanders around the small cell aimlessly for a minute before stopping at the barred window and staring at the outside. She has heard the screaming of the people in the distance being attacked by Diablo for hours now, and wishes that she had been able to prevent it. She turns around and slumps to the floor with her back to the wall. She noticed a glint of metal on the floor, a piece of a sword that had snapped and flown through the window earlier. Kaylee sighs and picks it up, placing it to her wrist. "I can't deal with this anymore!" She squeezes her hand a little and blood begins to flow down the blade. "Kaylee, what are you doing?" Kaylee feels herself starting to cry. "Lile, this whole thing is just too much for me! I'm just a kid and you expect me to kill demons and save the entire world? Well, it's not happening Lile, I just can't take it anymore!" She starts to put pressure on the blade and blood slowly begins to leak out of her wrist. "Just...find someone else." "Kaylee, there is noone else. If you die, all is lost." Kaylee begins to shake with a mix of rage and sadness. "I don't care! I can't win on my own, can I?" Kaylee tries to finish slitting her wrist, but finds herself unable to move. "Lile! Just let me die!" Unable to control the movement of her arms, she lifts the blade and throws it from the cell, into the hall. Kaylee lets herself fall forward onto the ground and cries.

- - -

Sven wakes up once more and quickly jumps to his feet. He looks around the cell, nothing seems any different, Hyun is still sleeping on the cot. Sven sighs and calms down a little, he walks over to the wall and leans against it. The wall seems to disintegrate with his touch and he falls through it, to the outside. "What just happened?" He stands back up and runs over to the cot, Hyun is gone and in his place is a long, sharp sword, Sven takes it. "How could he have gone right by me without me noticing?" Sven double checks the cell for Hyun before walking back outside. After a moment, he realize that the sun is up. "I could've sworn it was night just a minute ago..." He scratches his head and starts to walk towards the street.

- - -

The door to Kaylee's cell flies off of its hinges and falls to the ground with a loud clang. Kaylee raises her head from the floor to see what happened, her face still wet with tears. A hooded figure stands at the entrance, it's dressed in a long, black robe. "Who are you?" "Lile, come with me." His voice is clearly masculine. "My name isn't Lile, I'm Kaylee, who're you?" The man sighs and grabs Kaylee by the arm. "We don't have time to just stand here Lile, let's go." He pulls Kaylee from the ground and walks from the jail, still holding her firmly by her arm. "Where are we going?" "To kill Diablo."

- - -

Sven looks around the town, nothing seems out of the ordinary. "Diablo still hasn't made a move?" People walk around, enjoying themselves and talking to each other. Sven runs towards the town, screaming and waving his arms. "There's a demon coming, you need to run and hide or you'll all be killed!" Most don't take any notice of him, however, those who do, seem to dissolve into the ground. "What the hell?" Sven walks up to a man nearby and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, what's–" The man shatters into hundreds of pieces which fall into a pile on the ground, each piece then morphs into an insect before scurrying away. "Am I dreaming? This doesn't make any sense!"

- - -

"How do you know about Diablo?" The man is still pulling Kaylee by her arm. "Lile, have you really forgotten who I am?" "I'm not Lile!" Kaylee tries to puller her arm away, but the man's grasp is too strong, he stops and turns towards Kaylee. His eyes quickly go to her wrist and the blood dripping from it onto his robe. Kaylee tries to pull away again as the man lets go and she falls to the ground. "I'm sorry Lile, did I reopen an old wound?" Kaylee watches as the slit in her wrist slowly closes back up. "Would you please stop calling me that? My name is Kaylee!" The man tries to wipe some of the blood from his robe as he speaks. "I'm not talking to you, girl. I'm talking to Lile. You are her descendant, correct?" Kaylee looks strangely at the man. "I might be, but who are you?" "I rescued you from the prison, girl, the least you can do is answer my questions." Kaylee sighs. "Yes, I am." "Good, then I'm in the right place...follow me or be killed." The man turns away from Kaylee and begins walking away. Kaylee pauses a moment before getting to her feet and following him, staying close so that she won't lose him in the darkness.

- - -

Sven gave up on the town, if he's going to save them, he'd need to go straight for Diablo. He sighs while walking down the road, covering his eyes from the sun. "This isn't so easy without Kaylee telling me where to go." He notices a building on the side of the road and his mind turns to his stomach. "Jeez, when was the last time I had anything to eat? I guess that I'll need to stop for now..." He walks up to the front door and opens it. "Hey, is anyone here?" An old man appears from the shadows and walks up to Sven. "Don't you knock before you enter people's houses, boy?" "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that this was an inn or something." The old man grunts. "So then, I guess you expect food?" "Well, I don't have any money." "Just shut up and take the food, boy." "What food?" Sven looks around and suddenly finds himself sitting in a chair in a well-lit room. "How did I get here?" The old man sighs. "_Eat!"_ Sven picks up his fork and looks at the food on the plate. It looks more like a wobbly gray blob than food. He picks some food up and lifts it to his mouth so that he won't look rude, but suddenly there's a rumbling in the house, everything is shaking. Sven drops the fork with the food still on it and jumps yo his feet. "Is he here?" "Sit down and eat, boy!" Sven turns to look at the old man and picks up his sword. "I'm sorry, but there's something that I need to do." The old man's skin seems to melt away with these words, leaving behind a demonic looking figure. "No! You _must_ eat, boy!" The demon jumps at Sven and he slices it in half horizontally. The halves thud to the ground and remain motionless. "Diablo, I'm coming for you."

- - -


	12. Act XXII

**Act XXII**

"So, um, sir, how exactly do you know where Diablo is?" "I just do." "OK...well, why do you need to bring me?" "Would you rather be in the prison?" Kaylee sighs. "Asking me another question isn't an answer! Stop being such a jerk and just tell me, please?" The man stops moving and looks up at the moon. "There's a good reason for it. You should know that we can't waste time." Kaylee feels her anger starting to rise. "Stop with the excuses! I refuse to follow you any more until you explain yourself!" The man turns to look at Kaylee and slowly removes the hood of his cloak as he sighs. Beneath the hood is the head of the oldest looking man she has ever seen. "My name hasn't been used for over ten thousand years, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that I don't even remember it myself." "Ten thousand years? Yeah, right." "I was a student of Lile's before the evils first attacked. Me, along with a small group of rogues found her unconscious in a desert city, known even in my time simply as the Lost City. She was the only survivor of an attack made by the Outcast. We brought her to our monastery where she trained every day, swearing revenge on the Outcast. We tried to keep up with her, but her skills rose at an incredible rate. Not long later, Andariel attacked our monastery and we were forced to flee. Lile ended up in a rogue encampment where she got an apprentice named Slater. As for me, this part is a little blurry. I ended up in the Lost City where I was attacked by someone who looked and sounded exactly like Lile. I still don't understand who it actually was, none of the evils have an ability to transform, but I was turned to stone for nearly a year before a young necromancer named Slater freed me. We set out immediately to kill Mephisto. On our ship, we were attacked by Diablo, who we made quick work of, however, our ship crashed soon after and we went under. I found myself on a small beach in the Kurast Jungle when I awoke. I had learned where to find Slater in my dream and I quickly left, he needed my help. I found him in Mephisto's lair, hanging by a chain above a lava pit. I quickly got him down and killed Mephisto, rushing Slater into a portal we believed to go to Hell. I waited in the lair for only about half an hour before I was attacked by Lile. This wasn't the usual Lile though, she was tainted by an evil force. She knocked me into the portal and didn't follow. Thinking the people were demons, I figured they'd lead me to the evils. Although I found out they were simply infected by evil and that I was only in the Rogue Encampment, not Hell, they did lead me to Nihlathak. I met up with Slater there and we made quick work of Nihlathak. Then, an angel, Tyrael, teleported us to the World Stone Chamber where Slater and I killed Baal. I remained there as Slater left through the portal to Hell to finish his mission once and for all. I know little of what happened that day, but Hell itself was destroyed. I remained in the chamber, there was no exit. The World Stone kept me from all human needs and made me age at an incredibly slow rate. As long as I remained there I could've lived almost forever. Now, ten thousand years later, a portal was opened and I was able to leave that place. I was told telepathically by Lile to find and aid you in any way possible. So, that is my story Kaylee. May we please continue on now?" The man pulls the hood back over his head and begins to walk again. Kaylee, speechless, begins to walk after him.

- - -

Sven rushes out the door with his sword raised, the glare from the sun forces him to squint. "Diablo! Where are you!?" He hears demonic laughter come from behind him and quickly turns around, nothing is there. "Come on out, demon, are you scared!?" He hears the laughter again, from above this time. He quickly looks up and sees nothing. "Come on!" Sven starts waving his sword around, partly from fear, partly from anger. He stops, facing the door and sighs. There's a loud whooshing sound from behind him, followed by footsteps and the ground shaking. "So, are you actually here this time, demon?" Diablo laughs evilly. "Turn mortal, and fight." Sven smirks and turns around to find Diablo standing there. "Finally, let's do this."

- - -

The man stops abruptly and signals Kaylee to do the same. "What's wrong?" "SH!" He seems to be staring into the darkness, but Kaylee can't make out a thing. "Footsteps...two people." Kaylee listens closely and just barely makes out the sound of footsteps. "One grown woman and a boy, a teenager." A female's voice is heard in the distance. "Well done, druid. It's a pity that even without our surprise attack, you're going to die." From the darkness comes an even darker figure, it was James, but it's evident he's long gone. Both arms are slender and tanned, the right leg is the same as the arms. His voice has changed incredibly, to a much less deep tone, his hair has grown long and a dark black color. This wasn't James, it was a woman who had taken his body over entirely. "What do you want from us, you wretched woman." The figure laughs. "I want you to die." "Try it." The woman leaps at the man but he's able to dodge her attack entirely. "You are still nothing, woman. You will not regain your power quickly enough to defeat me." The figure smiles at the man. "Finally, a worthy opponent. It's been a long time." The man frowns. "I hope it's worth it, it'll be your last fight."

- - -

"Do you really think that you can win on your own mortal?" Sven raises his sword. "I know that I can." He runs at Diablo and brings his sword down but Diablo moves quickly to the side. "You'll need to do better than that, boy." Sven swings again, missing completely. Diablo punches him in the stomach, sending him flying backwards to the ground. "You don't have a chance against me." Sven quickly gets to his feet. "Yeah, right."

- - -

The man slowly walks towards the figure. "Go ahead, attack me, from anywhere." The figure moves so fast it almost appears to teleport in front of the man and raises its fist to attack. The man grabs the figure's arm firmly and holds it still. "Nice try." He swings the figure in a circle around him and throws it. It lands hard on the ground and appears to stop moving. The man turns to Kaylee. "We need to go, now." Kaylee shakily nods her head but freezes before she can run over to the man. The figure has grabbed him by the neck and he can't escape. "Let go, woman!" The figure smirks. "What's the matter? I thought that you were more powerful?" The figure squeezes her arm tighter around his neck. "Let him go!" The figure laughs and seems to disappear entirely, with the man. Kaylee stands in the darkness, unable to see anything and it begins to rain. "What now?" "Kaylee, it's your turn now." Kaylee freezes with terror. "No...please tell me that isn't..."

- - -

Before Sven can move, he feels a sharp pain in his head that almost knocks him to the ground. "What the hell?" Everything gets blurry and bright colors seem to move around everywhere. "Jesus, it's like a bad trip..." He tries to jump at Diablo but just stumbles a foot ahead. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "C'mon!" He feels his eyes open, everything appears to be normal, but he can't control his body, something else is controlling him. He feels himself lift his sword once more and looks to Diablo, everything but Diablo fades to black, they're floating in empty space. Diablo seems so far away, everything seems to be in slow motion and Sven feels himself rushing Diablo. "No, this isn't right. There's something very wrong here." Sven's mind quickly goes back to the jail cell. "You'll join me because I own your soul." "What?" "You heard me, boy. As long as I have your soul, I have complete control over you." Sven comes back to the situation at hand, still rushing at Diablo. "No...no! This isn't right at all! Let go of my body, James, I have control over the situation, you have no hold over me!" Everything begins to blur again. "Leave me alone!" He reaches Diablo and feels himself raise his sword over his head. "You can't control me!" He begins to bring the sword down, time seems to freeze as the sword stops at Diablo's face. The darkness begins to fade away, slowly. Sven is no longer in a desert, it is night time and rain is falling around him. He looks down to his sword, Diablo is gone and in front of his sword is Kaylee, on her knees, staring at Sven wide-eyed, tears covering her face. "S-Sven..." Time seems to start again and Sven lowers his sword. "I'm sorry Kaylee...I promise you, I won't allow it to happen again." Sven sighs and pulls Kaylee up to her feet. "I'm sorry." Kaylee manages a small smile as she leans forward and hugs Sven. "Sven...you're so warm..."


	13. Act XXIII

**Act XXIII**

"Andrew, have you found James yet?" Andrew sighs. "No Adam, I haven't, I have no need to anymore, the change is almost complete. Have you found Hyun, Sven or Kaylee?" Adam shrugs. "No, their cells were empty, they escaped somehow." "Well, I guess that I can help you out now, I don't have anything else to do." "It's my mission, I already told you that. The Outcast left the job to me and I intend to complete it, on my own." "Jeez, fine." Adam, Andrew is going to aid you. You will not lose the glory, but the three of them are gaining power rapidly, you will need help." Adam glares at Andrew and frowns. "OK Outcast, as you wish." Andrew smiles happily. "I guess I'm coming anyway, huh?" Adam points his finger at Andrew. "You just stay out of my way, I won't need your help." Adam turns and begins walking away. Andrew shrugs and follows along.

- - -

"Let go of me, you wretched woman!" The man pries the figure's arm from his neck and jumps away. "Where did you take me!?" The area is completely black, but the parts of the figure that are still covered by darkness are still darker. "It won't matter where we are for much longer, you will soon be dead." The man frowns. "And what do you want me to do?" "I want you...to _die_." The figure swings at the man, knocking him straight to the ground. "What!? How did you hit me?" The man beings to stand, but the figure pushes him down with its foot and holds him there. "We are in my world, druid. You can not defeat me here." "Druid..." The figure steps back and kicks the man in the side, he slams into an invisible wall and falls back to the ground. "It's been a long time, but I think I can do it." The man hears the figure take a step towards him. "Here it goes." The man rushes to his feet and concentrates hard. His nails grow longer and sharper, white fur sprouts all over his body, fangs grow in his mouth, he can feel himself becoming more wolf-like. "Ah, I see you haven't lost all of your skill with your old age. However, even as a werewolf, you will not win." A red cloud seems to emanate from the man. "No, that ability isn't known by anyone except...no, you shouldn't have that ability...!" The figure takes a step back slowly. "Go back to Hell where you belong, woman." The druid rushes the figure, reaching it almost immediately and bites down on its hand. The darkness begins to spread back over the arm, slowly and then becomes a dark red. "Dammit, let me go!" The figure rips its hand away, leaving half of it in the druid's mouth. "NO!" It holds the reddened part of its arm and screams in pain as it seems to evaporate into the air, a thick, black substance leaks from the elbow. The arm was gone from that point to the hand. "You little...I'm going to...! Argh!" The figure disappears completely. The druid smirks as the darkness begins to fade away. "I won't lose to someone like you."

- - -

Sven wakes up lying against a tree, Kaylee is still sleeping to his side. The rain has stopped and the sun has come up, they had survived another night. Sven stands up and yawns while stretching his arms. He leans over and gently shakes Kaylee. "Hey, we should get going." Kaylee slowly opens her eyes and stares at Sven sleepily. She sighs and stands up, wobbling slightly. "I don't know where to go." "Well, it's wet out here, we should find a building or something until Lile tells you." "...ay...ee." "Hello?" Kaylee jumps at the sounds of the voice in her head. "Kaylee!?" "Yes, I'm here Lile." "Ah, finally! I was unable to contact you after the druid rescued you from the prison. James is getting stronger, he's able to block my powers entirely now." "I know, I've seen what he's capable of." "What do you mean? You didn't fight him did you!?" "No, that man did, and he lost." "He lost? No..." "Lile, were is Diablo?" "He's nearby, he's looking for you. Where's Hyun?" "We don't know." "So then it's just the two of you, this won't be an easy battle." Kaylee nods and looks to Sven. "Diablo is nearby, he'll come to us." Sven sighs. "I'm already tired of just standing still." Footsteps are soon heard nearby, from every direction. A bush to the side of the tree begins rustling. "Kaylee, get behind me." Sven raises his sword as a hand comes from the bush. "Come on, show yourself." Slowly, a man rises from the bush and stands in front of them. He's holding a baseball bat. "What do you want?" The man stares at Sven for a moment, his mouth open slightly. "I am...here for you." He swings the bat sloppily at Sven, who dodges and swings his sword at the man. The long sleeve of the man's shirt fall to the ground, revealing a long gash in his arm. Sven turns around quickly and finds more, then turning back to the first man finds that more have emerged. "Dammit, how many do you think there are?" Kaylee shakily answers Sven. "I don't know, at least thirty."

- - -

"Hey Diablo! How's the infecting going?" "Back off, boy. I'm busy." Andrew scans the area. "With what? You're just standing here." "I'm sending the infected after Sven, Kaylee and Hyun. It takes real concentration to keep them under control and not have them going around just eating flesh." "So? Where are there?" "About a mile or so that way." Diablo points in the general direction of Sven and Kaylee. "I haven't found Hyun yet, but I know he's alive, I can sense him." "Alright, see ya." Andrew and Adam begin walking towards Sven and Kaylee. "Fools, what are you doing!" "We're gonna go kill them." Diablo sighs and turns away from them. "Fine, good luck mortals."

- - -

Sven and Kaylee stand back to back, watching the infected get closer. "We need to make a move Kaylee." "I know." "Ready? One...two...three! Go!" Sven lunges forward, cutting an infected in half horizontally with his sword. Kaylee takes a step back. "Telekinesis!" All of the infected in front of her fly backwards and land on the ground. Sven turns to his side and jams his sword through one infected at an angle, stabbing another standing behind the first in the face, killing them both and then removes his sword. Kaylee raises both of her hands together in front of her. "Fireball!" A huge ball of fire comes from Kaylee's hands, incinerating five of the infected. Sven slices at the neck of one of the infected, cutting its head off entirely. He then kicks the head at another infected, knocking it to the ground, and stabs it through the chest. "Kaylee! Behind you!" Kaylee turns to find two infected standing in front of her. "Ah!" She quickly puts her hands to their faces and an aura of fire spreads down her arms and onto the infected which fall to the ground, writhing in pain. "Thank you Sven." Sven nods and turns back to the infected. "Come on!" An infected in front of Sven swings a bat at his head. Sven falls backwards and slices at the infected's legs, cutting them off at the knees. "Ugh." Sven rushes back to his feet and jams the sword into the infected now lying on the ground. Kaylee raises her arms into the air, her palms facing up, and closes her eyes. "...Meteor!" A small ring of fire appears around Kaylee's feet and quickly spreads into a huge ring surrounding the infected. "Jeez!" Sven jumps out of the ring of fire and stares at Kaylee as a huge ball of fire falls from the sky, directly onto the center of the ring, igniting and killing the remaining seventeen infected. "Kaylee?!" The fire seems to fade away slowly and Kaylee remains standing exactly where she was. She opens her eyes, lowers her arms and looks to Sven. "Lile is getting good at sending her power to me." Sven stares at her, wide-eyed. "Jeez, I'll say." Kaylee walks up to Sven and helps him up. "Do you think that's all he's going to send?" Sven sighs. "I hope so." A voice is heard from behind them. "Well, Diablo isn't sending any more, but there are still two more infected for you to deal with." Sven turns to find the speaker. "Oh no...Adam." Adam stands facing Sven and Kaylee. "That's right, and this time, there's no escape." Andrew runs out from behind some bushes. "Jeez, Adam, what with the rush all of a sudden?"Andrew follows Adam's gaze. "Oh, here they are." Sven sighs. "Man, this isn't looking good."

- - -

"Get away from me!" Hyun removes the grip of an infected from him and punches it as hard as he can in the face, knocking it onto the ground. Hyun picks up its weapon, a small dagger, and sighs. He slits the infected's throat and looks around the area, to his left, the desert seems to end, plenty of trees and bushes. Something about it doesn't seem right, that's where he would go next.

- - -

"Come on Sven, come and attack." Sven remains still, holding his sword up, prepared for attack. "You first." Adam shrugs. "Fine." He pulls his guns out and aims at Sven. "This should be quick." He pulls the triggers and Sven quickly dodges behind a tree. "Kaylee, I think this one is up to you. I won't be able to get close enough!" Adam turns to look at Kaylee now, he had completely forgotten about her. "Hm, let's go then, Kaylee." Kaylee makes one quick nod at Adam and prepares to fight. "I've gotten stronger Adam, I can't lose." She holds her hands out in front of her and remains still. "Whatever." Adam turns to her completely now and begins shooting once more. "Telekinesis!" The bullets stop in mid-air as they get closer to Kaylee. Andrew tries to hold back a laugh. "It's like the matrix, huh? I thought you weren't going to let her use that on you again Adam?" Adam sighs and lowers his weapons. "Shut the hell up." Kaylee smiles happily as the bullets fall to the ground. "Fire ball!" Adam quickly jumps out of the way. "Sure, you've gotten better, but so have I." Adam seems to disappear and Kaylee feels something cold and metallic push against the back of her head. "You lose." Kaylee feels her heart stop and freezes completely with fear. She tries to beg him to stop but chokes on her words. Adam pulls the trigger, letting only a single bullet go into her head and she falls to the ground as blood splatters onto Adam's face. "This time, stay dead." He sprays the back of Kaylee with bullets and a puddle of blood forms around her. "No!" Sven jumps up from behind Adam, he tries to dodge, but Sven's blade makes a long gash in his back. "What the hell is that blade made of! It feels like it's eating away at my skin!" Adam reaches his hands to his back in a worthless attempt to stop the pain and screams. "Andrew, you take care of this, huh?" Adam seems to just disappear. Sven runs up to Kaylee and kneels on the side of her. "Damnit...I wasn't fast enough!" "Don't worry about it Sven, you'll see her again soon enough." Sven looks slowly at Andrew and frowns. "You'll pay for this!" Sven rushes to his feet and draws his sword, it seems to have a faint black glow that hadn't been there before. Andrew draws both of his swords and gets into a battle stance. "Will I?"

- - -

"What was that? Gunshots? I need to hurry, someone's in trouble!" Hyun doubles his speed and continues to run for the trees in the distance which still seem to be so far away.

- - -

Sven runs at Andrew and swings, but Andrew just makes a quick jump back and swings both of his swords at Sven, one from above, one from below. Sven quickly jumps back to make some room and then jumps between the blades with his sword parallel to the ground. Andrew stops his attack immediately and steps to the side, Sven lands on the ground, rolls, and jumps back up to his feet. Sven lunges again at Andrew, who raises both of his swords to defend himself. The swords clang together and both Sven and Andrew continue to push with all of their force. The swords begin to give off their own auras. Sven's glows a dark black color and Andrew's a deep red. "Just die already!" Andrew groans as he tries to keep Sven's sword back. The auras seem to spread onto Sven and Andrew themselves. Sven's eyes turn a pure black and Andrew's become a deep red. "It's over!" Sven's sword slowly begins to move forward, his blade beginning to slice through Andrew's. Andrew screams as his muscles begin to ache. One of Andrew's swords snaps into two and he falls backwards onto the ground. "How!?" Andrew seems to disappear in the same way Adam had. Sven stands still, trying to catch his breath and feels his anger rising. "Come back, coward! Fight me!" Sven feels someone tap him on the shoulder and he swings around with his sword raised. Before he can act, he finds a fist in his face, which knocks him to the ground, unconscious.


	14. Act XXIV

**Act XXIV**

Sven jumps out of his sleep and sees Kaylee's body, the blood has dried around her but she still looks terrible. "Sven! You're back up, are you feeling any better?" Sven looks to see who the owner of the voice is. "Hyun? You're still alive! What's up man?" Sven shakes Hyun's hand but jumps back immediately. "Jeez, you're freezing man." Hyun shrugs. "I feel fine." Sven suddenly remembers how he had been knocked out. "Did you see who punched me?" "That was me, there was something wrong with you, you looked possessed or something. Like James did at the police station, and you tried to attack me!" Sven looks to the ground and puts his hand onto his head as he shakes it. "What…? I thought that I dealt with her." Hyun sighs. "Whatever, don't worry about it, you seem fine now. What happened here?" He makes a motion towards Kaylee's body with his head. "I couldn't save her, Adam killed her." "Adam did it? He'll pay." "Not yet Hyun, Diablo is coming to this exact spot soon, we need to fight him." "Oh, great, what good timing." Hyun sighs. "I've been walking since you disappeared, I'm beat. At least I managed to get a new weapon…" Hyun waves around a sword he took from one of the dead infected. Sven ignores him and walks up to Kaylee's body. "If only I had been a little bit quicker." He rolls Kaylee off of her stomach and onto her back. "She looks so peaceful still. If she had fallen onto her back to begin with, I'd think that Adam had missed." Hyun walks up to Sven and puts his hand onto his shoulder. "It's not your fault Sven. It's Adam's fault, and the fault of the evils. We can't bring her back, but we can avenge her death." Sven holds back tears. "I'll make sure that they pay." "Who is going to pay, boy?" Sven frowns and gets to his feet. "Diablo, you are going to be the next to go." Diablo laughs. "Of course, come on and attack." Sven holds his sword up and glares at Diablo. "Nothing will stop me from avenging her death!" He rushes at Diablo, the sword raised above his head. As Sven reaches him, Diablo gives a quick kick to his stomach. Sven stumbles backwards. The sword begins to give off the dark aura again. "I will not lose!" Sven makes a quick horizontal slash at Diablo with his sword. Diablo jumps over the blade and punches Sven in the face while in the air. Sven falls to the ground. "Damnit…" Sven feels his anger rising, the aura begins to travel up his arm again. He jumps back up to his feet and seems to move with speed that he hadn't had before. "Die!" Diablo steps to the side but finds another sword coming at him, which slices off his arm at the shoulder. "Sven, don't fight alone. We'll do it together!" Diablo takes a couple of steps back, holding the stub of his arm. Sven feels his anger fade away, the aura returns to just the sword and he smiles. "Thank you Hyun, let's take him down." Diablo removes his hand from the bloody stub of his arm and aims it at Sven. "I won't lose!" A stream of red lightning comes from Diablo's fingers but Sven quickly runs to the side and avoids it as Hyun runs in and gives the final blow. He jams the sword into Diablo's chest, pulls it back out and cuts off his head. Diablo's body falls limp onto the ground and Hyun lets out a sigh of relief. "We're done here, we should get to the plane and find the next evil." "We can't. We don't know how to fly a plane, we need Lile, and…" Sven stares at Kaylee's lifeless body and Hyun does the same. They remain that way, silently, until a sound is heard in the bushes. "What was that?" The figure limps out of the shrubs, breathing heavily and holding what remains of her arm. She limps slowly towards Diablo's body. "Whoa, what happened? Hyun, now's our chance to take it down!" Hyun and Sven rush at the figure with their swords raised. When they get close, they're tossed backwards and the figure doesn't even flinch. "What was that?" "It has some kind of force field." The figure reaches Diablo's corpse and lets go of her arm, pure black blood spills out onto the ground. She shoves her hand into Diablo's chest and pulls out his heart. She shoves it into her mouth and swallows it whole. She immediately begins screaming with pain, her arm seems to regenerate entirely, and the darkness recedes along both her arms and legs now. She begins to laugh, slowly at first, but it chills Sven and Hyun to the bone. Diablo's blood slowly drips from her mouth and she begins to speak. "I suggest that you run, mortals. I'll give you a head start as thanks for slaying Diablo for me." Sven quickly gets to his feet and puts Kaylee's body over his shoulder. "Hyun, let's go!" Hyun gets up and joins Sven, they run past the trees and bushes, into the desert that Hyun had just crossed. They can hear the woman's evil laugh from behind which causes them to run faster than they had ever run before, scared for their lives. "She's gonna catch us! There's no way we'll get back to the plane in time!" "Well we can't just give up, come on!" "Sven…" Sven stops immediately. "Hello?" Hyun stops and looks at Sven. "Come on! What're you doing?" "Sven, put me down please." "Kaylee?" Sven carefully lays Kaylee's body on the ground. It remains unmoving. "Hyun, come here. I think she's alive!" Hyun runs up to Sven. "You're crazy! Look at her, she's covered in holes and blood, she's not breathing, her heart isn't beating, how could she be alive?" "Sven, hold my hand and have Hyun hold the other." "She just talked!" Her mouth didn't move Sven, she's dead." "She wants us to hold her hands." "What?" "Just do it!" Hyun sighs. "We're dead." He walks up to Kaylee and holds one of her hands, Sven holds the other. The area seems to fade away and then the city and the plane seem to appear in front of them. Hyun let's go, staring in amazement. "How?" Sven picks Kaylee up and holds her in his arms. "She's alive."

- - -

"You failed." Andrew sighs. "It's not my fault, he broke my sword." Adam shakes his head slowly. "I at least killed off one of them." "I won't stand for failure, don't try to make excuses." "C'mon, give us another chance, we can do it." "If you failed once, what makes you think that you won't fail again?" "Well, we could try bringing a couple more infected with us." "…And you want me to supply the infected." "Yeah." "Get out of my sight. Rest and try once more. If you fail again, consider yourselves dead." The Outcast throws two new swords at Andrew's feet. "These ones won't break." Andrew picks up the swords, leaving behind the original two. They both bow and exit the room.

- - -

"OK, how do we make it go?" With those words, the plane lurches forward and begins to move. Sven and Hyun move to the cockpit. Sven places Kaylee's body into the back seat and buckles the seat belt. Hyun and Sven get into the pilot and co-pilot seat and also buckle themselves up. The plane takes off immediately after. "Do you think she's going to catch us?" Hyun shakes his head. "I hope not." "Where do you think Lile is taking us next?" "Who knows? Only five possibilities I guess."

- - -

Adam and Andrew sit on the front steps of the Outcast's lair. Adam massages the gash on his back. "Man, he got me real good." Andrew stares at one of the new swords, holding the blade in front of his face. He seems hypnotized. "Uh-huh." Adam stands up and walks down the steps. He stops and realizes that Andrew isn't moving. "C'mon!" "Uh-huh." Adam walks up to Andrew and punches him in the side of the head. Andrew jumps up and lowers his sword. "Huh? What's going on?" "We're going, pay attention." Adam begins walking again, this time Andrew follows. "Do we even know where they're going next?" "You should, I do." "…And who are we going with?" Adam sighs. "The Mistress of Pain. Seriously, do you pay attention at all?" Andrew shrugs. "Apparently not." "Whatever, let's go. We're meeting the Mistress at the airport." Andrew nods and runs after Adam as they head once more towards the airport.

- - -

Sven wakes up and looks slowly around. He had been sleeping for a long time considering he had slept just before the infecteds had attacked him. Hyun is still resting and Kaylee, of course, remains dead in the back seat. He yawns, unbuckles his seatbelt and stands up. It's dark out again. "We must have been flying for a long time." He stares outside, thinking about the last time they were in the plane. When they had almost been killed. He wonders why the figure hadn't followed them this time and why Kaylee was only talking to him. Everything seems so jumbled up and confusing. He pulls out his sword and looks at it. Why had James given it to him, and was it really safe to be using it? More questions seem to be rising than answers. Sven sighs and sits back in his chair, placing his sword on the ground. "Whatever, let's just get all of this over with."

- - -

"When are we going? I'm tired of waiting!" "Quiet boy, we're going in a second. I'm from ten thousand years in the past and I'm expected to fly this? I'm sure neither of you even have the ability to do so." Adam shrugs. "Nope, no idea." The Mistress groans and sits in the pilot's seat. "Well, sit down. We're going, I hope." Much to the Mistress' surprise, the plane takes off without trouble. "This will be a long trip, I hope you mortals can manage the boredom. Andrew shrugs. "I'm sure we'll manage."

- - -

Sven kneels in front of Kaylee, staring at her. "I know that you're alive, get up!" "Sven, don't." Hyun stands up from his chair and shakes his head sadly at Sven. "She's dead, you need to accept that." Sven gets an angry tone in his voice. "No, you're wrong! Kaylee, get up, prove him wrong!" "She's dead!" Sven jumps up to his feet and looks at Hyun. "Shut up!" He swings at Hyun, but Hyun sidesteps and he falls to the ground. "Sven, she's dead…" "Damnit…" Sven gets back to his feet and kneels again in front of Kaylee. "It's my fault." "No it isn't." Sven grabs his sword from the floor beside him. "Yes it is!" Sven points the sword at his chest. "I killed her and the only way to fix things is for me to kill myself too!" "Sven, what the Hell!? Wait!" Sven tries to push the sword through his chest but finds that something is holding his arm. "Sven, no…" Sven looks up, Kaylee is holding his arm, smiling. "It's OK Sven, I'm not dead." "Kaylee, I…" Sven lets the sword drop to the ground and hugs Kaylee tightly as he begins to cry. "I broke my promise, Kaylee. I told you that nothing bad would happen to you, but I couldn't stop it, I just-" "I'm here now, aren't I?" "Yeah, but-" "Sven, it's alright, I forgive you. There's no need to kill yourself." "I'm sorry…" "It's OK." "Dude, are you alright?" Sven snaps back to reality, Kaylee remains dead in the seat, his sword is on the floor again and tears cover his face. He stands up and smiles. "She's alive Hyun, she's alive."

- - -

"It's getting light out again." "Oh, is it really? I didn't notice." The Mistress sighs and Andrew shrugs. "Whatever. How much longer do you think we'll be?" "One or two hours." "Seriously? Awesome!" "Yeah, just stay out of my way when we land." "Uh-huh." Andrew stands up and stretches his arms. "I have things to get done anyway."

- - -

"Hyun, we're landing!" Hyun snaps out of a daydream and stares out the front window. "Hey, you're right. Any idea where we are?" "Nope, looks like Lile's avoiding landing in a city this time." "Smart." Sven glances over at Kaylee and then looks back out the window. "We can't just leave her on the plane." Hyun sighs. "She's de-" "I'll carry her with me." "Wouldn't that be suspicious?" "I'll say that she's sleeping." "Her clothes are covered in blood." "I'll get her new clothes." "From where?" "I don't know, I'll find some." Hyun pauses for a moment. "Fine Hya, but if we get arrested again, we might not be as lucky as the last time." "I know." Hyun shakes his head. "Fine." With that word, the plane comes to a stop on the ground. "Let's go."

- - -

"Sit down, we're landing." "About time." Adam and Andrew sit down and put on their seatbelts. Within five minutes, the plane lands safely on the ground. "Alright, see ya, we have stuff to do." Andrew rushes out of the plane and Adam follows quickly after. The Mistress lets out a sigh of relief. "About time. Now, let's get started."

- - -

Hyun and Sven reach a house after about a half hour later, it seems to be a farm of some sort. Clothes hang on a line outside of the house. "Quickly, change them." Hyun looks away and Sven quickly changes Kaylee into bloodless clothes. "Iie!" Sven looks around. "Huh?" "Iie, iie!" The door to the house swings open and a woman rushes out. "Watashi no fuku o suwate kudasai ne!" "What'd she say?" Sven shrugs. "I don't know." The woman waves her arms frantically at them and looks angry. "Maybe we should go." Sven picks up Kaylee and begins to run towards the city, Hyun follows. The woman begins to chase them but runs out of breath after a minute. "B-baka…baka!" Hyun and Sven both laugh. "I know that one. Looks like we're in Japan!"

- - -

"Japan, huh?" Andrew looks around the city and the people moving busily around him. Adam sighs. "You really did forget where we were going, didn't you." Andrew shrugs. "Uh-huh." Adam shakes his head and changes the subject. "Think they're here yet?" "No idea, they probably landed outside the city so that they wouldn't be arrested again." "Probably." Adam sighs. "I guess we're the ones who will be doing the waiting this time."

- - -

"So, how's your Japanese Sven? You took three years of it, didn't you?" Sven groans. "Yeah, but…" "Whatever, it shouldn't matter much." Hyun and Sven have reached the city. "Well, I'll try I guess. Uh, sumimasen, er, oni o mimashita ka?" The man stares strangely at Sven, wondering if he's serious. "Iie, mimasen yo." The man walks away with a confused look on his face. "So?" "I asked if he's seen a demon, he said no." Hyun sighs. "Everyone's gonna think we're a couple of crazy meats if you ask questions like that." Sven shrugs. "My vocab is sort of limited, y'know?" Sven spots another man coming by. "Konnichiwa, boku no namae wa Sven desu." Sven reaches his hand out to shake the man's hand, but he just walks right by. "Maybe they're afraid of the dead body we're carrying around." Sven looks at the body of Kaylee lying on the sidewalk near his feet. Sven spots a girl coming up to them now. "Sumimasen, eigo o hanashite dekimasu ka?" "Yes I do. Are you foreigners?" "Yes, have you seen a de-" Hyun gives Sven a sharp kick to the leg. "I mean, have you seen anything odd around here lately?" The woman looks at the swords that both Hyun and Sven are carrying and then at Kaylee lying on the ground. "Well…" "Besides us." "Well, there were these two American boys. One had two machine guns and the other had two swords." "Adam and Andrew. Anything else?" "Well, there are rumors of a demon, a woman with long claws. They say that she came on a plane from America." Hyun stares at the girl, surprised. Sven smiles. "Exactly who we're looking for. We've come to kill that demon, and those two boys you mentioned, they're trying to stop us." "I see. May I come along?" "Um, well, it's dangerous. What can you do?" Before Sven can blink, the woman is behind him, holding his arms with one hand and holding a dagger to his throat with the other. "I'll have a fighting chance." The girl smiles and Sven speaks shakily. "Alright, you're in. What's your name?" "I'm Emiko, you?" "I'm Sven, this is Hyun." Emiko lets go of Sven and stands in front of the two boys. "What about her?" She looks down at Kaylee's body. "She's um-" "She's dead." "Her name is Kaylee." Emiko raises an eyebrow. "What was that Hyun?" "Nothing, never mind." Emiko leans over the body to examine the face more closely. "Hey! I know her!" "What? You do?" She ignores Sven and checks Kaylee's heart beat. "Why's her heart beating so slowly? Is she sick?" "No, she's…de- wait, what? She has a heartbeat?" "Yeah, it's slow, but it's definitely there. Why wouldn't she?" Sven can't stop himself from laughing happily. "I knew it! I knew she was still alive!" The people who were on the street walk away quickly to avoid the strange sight.

- - -

"That girl earlier, was that Emiko?" Adam shrugs. "I think so." "Why was she watching us so closely? Do you think she recognized us?" "Maybe, it's been a while though. Does it matter?" "Not really. When do you think we'll find them?" Adam shrugs. "We don't even know if they're in the city yet." They both hear a voice in their heads. "Emiko has joined them. I want you to kill her as well." "Man, kill one and another appears." "And Kaylee isn't dead, you must be more thorough." "What!? I covered her in bullets, no way!" "You were too slow, Lile was able to save her." "Oh, c'mon!" Adam yells at the air and Andrew shakes his head. "Maybe we'll need to get some help too."

- - -

"How do we find the demon anyway?" "Well, Kaylee usually tells us. She can't really do it now though, so we're sort of stuck." "I see. That's boring." Emiko sighs. Sven pushes a rock around with his foot. "No kidding, but I guess it's better than dying." "We won't die." "Whatever." "Is there anything that we're waiting for?" "Well, the demon, it can take over human minds. When people start to suddenly try eating our flesh, we'll know that it's nearby." "Zombies, huh? That's about all that's been on T.V. for like a week. First North America, then South America. I've heard that South America is back to normal, no zombies at least. So Japan is next?" "Not just Japan, but Asia entirely. There's one demon taking over each continent. We've already killed the one in South America, that's why things are back to normal there." "So, this whole thing revolves around you three and those demons. Who would've known all of this was so simple?" "Well, there's a little more to it. Like I said before, those two kids, Adam and Andrew, they're after us. They were sent by the demons to stop us from ruining their plan. Then there's this one other person, I don't know whose side he's on." "A pure black figure that looks like a woman and goes against every law of science that you can think of?" "Um, yeah. Where'd you hear about him?" "There was footage of it in South America, it was standing near the body of another demon, laughing. There were dead bodies all over the ground and there were two people who ran from it. In fact, I think…they were the two of you." Sven stares at Emiko, even more surprised than before. "That was right before we left for Japan. Who got that on tape? There's no way he survived?" "He died less than a minute after he began filming. There wasn't a mark on his body, he seemed to have just dropped dead." "I see…well, this thing, it attacks everything it sees, us, the demons, random people. It's on a side of it's own" "It's James." Sven gets a strange feeling of fear in his gut. "What?" "I knew as soon as I saw it, its James. What happened to him?" "How do you know James?" "I'm not from Japan, I live in the U.S., I'm only here for about a year. I went to school with him, I was a sophomore." "So you really do know Kaylee?" "Yeah, we're friends. Why would I lie?" Sven shrugs. "Just though that it was a little weird, that's all." "You know, you never answered my question. What happened to James?" "It's hard to explain. I'm not even entirely sure myself. As far as I can see, an evil spirit has taken over his body. Its only goal it seems is to kill everything." "Worse than the demons?" "Much worse, it's on a side of its own and unlike the zombification, what it does can't be undone." "Right." "Worse than that, it keeps gaining power and we can't even get close to it as it is." "I see, so we avoid it at all costs, correct?" "Exactly." Suddenly they hear people screaming, and soon after, people are rushing past them. "Oni!" The man who Sven had talked to earlier pushes past him. "Is it coming?" Sven feels a cool blade against his throat. "What are you doing?" "We can't allow you to kill the demon Sven, you know that." "Andrew, what about Hyun and Emiko? They'll stop you." "No, that's taken care of." Adam stands with one gun pointed at each Emiko and Hyun. "What about Kaylee then?" Andrew glances at Kaylee's body. "I don't think she'll be a problem." Sven moves quickly while Andrew is looking down. He pulls his sword out and uses it to push Andrew's blade away. He then turns around to face Andrew. Adam quickly moves one of his guns from Emiko to Sven. Emiko jumps up and stabs Adam in the back with her dagger. "Damnit!" Andrew runs at Emiko but Hyun jumps up and puts his sword to his chest. Sven holds his to Adam's. "We're gonna need some help after all." Adam and Andrew disappear. Everyone puts away their weapons and looks around. All of the people are gone. "There goes our lead."


	15. Act XXV

**Act XXV**

"So what're we going to do? They were hard enough to beat before Emiko joined them. Now that there's four of them, we don't have a chance." "We didn't have a chance when it was just three, they beat us down while Kaylee slept." Adam sighs. "You're right, but really, what can we do? Where can we get some help?" "Hello." Adam and Andrew turn to see a girl standing behind them. Her pupils are red and the smile on her face gives them both the creeps. "What do you want?" "To kill." "Who sent you?" "The Outcast." "What? So you're on our side?" "Yes." "What's your name?" "Krista." "You don't talk much, do ya?" Her smile fades. "Don't." "Don't what? It was just a question, you just seem kinda qui-" Krista seems to teleport in front of Adam's face, staring into his eyes evilly. He feels like they're digging into his skin, fear paralyzes his body. "DON'T." "I-I'm sorry!" Krista backs away slowly. "Good." Adam and Andrew look nervously at each other. "Welcome to the team Krista."

- - -

"Are they going to become zombies soon?" Sven shrugs. "We don't even know if the demon got them." "It probably did." "Probably, but still. I guess our best choice would be to barricade ourselves in a building and wait." "Sven, don't do that, it wouldn't work. The Mistress' power is too much. Her infected would be able to destroy you easily if you did that." Sven looks around for a second to see where the voice came from. "Wait a second…!" He looks down at Kaylee, who is now sitting up, staring at him. "K-Kaylee!" He pulls her to her feet and wraps his arms around her. "About time you woke up!" Kaylee smiles. "I wasn't sleeping y'know, I was dead." "If you were dead, you wouldn't have woken back up." Kaylee sighs. "Whatever, if that makes you feel better." When Sven lets go, she looks around. "Emiko? Where'd you come from?" "We're in Japan, you guys came to me." Kaylee shrugs. "So I missed a lot. What happened to Diablo?" "He's dead. We came here right after." "What about Adam and Andrew?" "They aren't even a threat anymore." "Good. Well, Lile says that our best choice here would be a direct attack on the Mistress." "You mentioned her before. Who is she? The demon?" "Yes, she's like an assassin, she uses stealth to gain an advantage. At night, most people wouldn't even be able to spot her if she was standing still. Even without her stealth though, she's not an easy opponent." "Alright, and where is she?" Kaylee points in the direction that everyone had run in earlier. "That way." "Alright, let's go."

- - -

"So what's the plan? Should we go right for them or let the Mistress do her work first?" "Well, we don't want a repeat of the last time, but…" Adam glances at Krista. "What?" Krista glares evilly at Adam. "Uh, nothing, I'm sorry." Krista shakes her head. "Whatever." "So, the real question is whether or not we can beat them on our own." "Right, and with Krista on our side, we probably can." They both glance at Krista again. "STOP." She puts her hand on the handle of her dagger. They both quickly turn around. "Sorry." "So, should we attack again now or what?" "Well, how's your back? You got stabbed, right?" "Yeah, it's pretty much healed already. Don't worry about it." "Alright, well, I guess we can take a shot." "No." Andrew turns to look at Krista. "Huh?" "We'll wait." "What? Why?" "I said so." "But-" "Shut up." Andrew groans. "You could've said something sooner." Krista smirks and stares into Andrew's eyes. He shudders and turns around. "OK, we'll wait."

- - -

"It's getting dark, we need to find her soon." "If she's as good at hiding as you say, we probably already passed her." The four of them stop in their tracks and get a sudden feeling of fear. "Something's here." Sven puts his finger to his mouth. "Sh." They hear slow footsteps on the pavement behind them. "You aren't going any further than this." Sven quickly turns around. "James. What do you want?" The darkness has disappeared from the neck down, to reveal the rest of the slender female body. Her clothes seem to be of an ancient style. "I'm here for Hyun." "What? And why would we give him to you?" "I wasn't asking you. Do as I say, _or die_. It's your decision." Sven draws his sword. "I choose death." He feels a sharp pain in his gut and doubles over. He sees James' fist against his stomach. "You're lucky that I prefer to toy with my prey before destroying it." James appears behind Hyun, wraps his arm around his neck and then disappears with him. A small amount of blood trickles down from Sven's mouth. "Damnit."

- - -

"What do you want from me?" "You will join me." "I'll never join scum like you." "I wasn't giving you a choice. You mortals must learn the difference between statements and questions." Hyun stares at the ground for a moment. "I'd rather die." "I'm sure you would. What I'm going to put you through is worse than Hell." Hyun remains silent. "Perhaps you remember when we first met. In the police station?" "Yes." "I took your soul that day. It belongs to me, and so do you." Hyun feels sweat forming on his forehead. "Fight it all you want, you will join me." Hyun feels his eyelids getting heavy and finds himself unable to hold up his body. James lets go and Hyun falls to the ground. "I hate you…"

- - -

"What the hell do we do now? We can't just leave without Hyun." Kaylee and Emiko look at each other sadly. Sven begins to pace back and forth. "What do we do? What _can_ we do?" "We can't do anything for him, we need to just move on." Sven stops and stares angrily into Emiko's eyes, she doesn't flinch. "We have no choice." Sven sighs. "Fine, but we're coming back for him later." "Whatever, we need to go before it gets too dark." Sven nods his head slowly. "Yeah, I understand."

- - -

"How long do we need to wait exactly? This is stupid." Andrew yawns. "Hopefully not too long. I've never been so bored in my life." Krista opens her blood-red eyes and stares at Andrew. "Don't complain." Andrew looks to the ground to avoid Krista's stare. "Sorry." Adam shrugs. "It shouldn't be too long. Back at home, the infection took less than a night, right?" "Yeah, I guess so."

- - -

"What was that noise?" Sven looks around. "What noise?" Emiko stands completely still. "I heard something. Footsteps, I'm sure of it." Sven sighs. "It's just the dark, it's getting to you." "No, I'm sure that I…" A bullet flies past Sven's head and smashes into the brick wall a few feet to his side. "Get down!" Kaylee pushes Emiko and Sven to the ground and points her hand in the direction the bullet had come from. "Fireball!" She smiles as a figure ignites and falls to the ground, wriggling around. She raises her hands above her head and closes her eyes in concentration. "Light!" An aura of light surrounds her body. Although the light is dim, it allows her to see much further in the dark. Her eyes jump open and she looks around. They're surrounded by gun-wielding infecteds. Sven beats Kaylee to the first word. "Damnit."

- - -

"What's my job?" "You are to kill the evils so that I may harvest their power." "What about Sven, Kaylee and Emiko?" "I've decided to let them live, for now. If they survive, it will make my job much easier." "I see. So, I kill the evils, you steal their energy. Allow others to live unless they get in my way. Correct?" "Precisely." James hands a sword over to Hyun. "Don't fail me. Failure means death." Hyun nods. "I won't."

- - -

The three of them stand up and walk slowly back until their backs are pressed up against the wall. Sven begins to shake. "Get back! We won't lose to you!" "Shinu ne." Now Emiko begins to shake. "We're in trouble!" Half of the infecteds fall flat onto the ground. "What the hell?" A figure in a robe can be seen in the distance, near the bodies. Kaylee recognizes him in an instant. "You're alive! James didn't kill you!" Sven looks to Kaylee. "What? Who is that?" "He's…! Well, I don't know his name, but he fought James and won!" Sven watches, as the robed man seems to glide across the ground as he finishes off the rest of the infecteds in one swift movement. "He's good. Where did you meet him?" "He saved me from the prison in Mexico, he knocked the door down." "Jeez…" The man walks up to them and looks at Kaylee. "I see that you survived." He looks at the others. "And you have friends with you now." Kaylee smiles. "Yup." "Have you seen that woman around here?" "Do you mean James?" "She's not James anymore. However, if you wish to refer to her as that, then yes, I mean James." "He did show up for a minute, just before you got here. He took Hyun with him." "Great, she's probably taking his mind over like she had done to Sven." I broke his control, I'm sure Hyun can too." "It's not quite that easy. You got lucky. If you eat any food in that world she sends you to, there's no escape." Sven thinks back to the old man who had tried to force him to eat. "Well, I guess that explains why he wanted me to eat so badly. Wait, you seem to know a lot about this spirit that possessed James. Can you explain anything about it? Like where it came from or who it is?" The man looks at the ground and then slowly back up to Sven. "I only know a few of the details. I know that at some point, James was sent to Hell, where he unintentionally released the spirit and it possessed him. As for who, that's somewhat hard to explain." "Try it." "Well, it isn't really a person. In a way, it's Lile." "The one who's helping us?" "Sort of. Like I said, it's kind of hard to explain. At some point, Lile had all of the evil in her body sealed away in Hell. This was before the Lile you know began to contact you in the past." "So, there're two Lile's?" "In a way. One pure good, the other pure evil." "So how are we supposed to win against her?" "You can't kill her directly. You need to kill all of the evils and remove their hearts. If she can't get more hearts, she'll remain the same in power. If she stays at her current level of power, I will be able to kill her myself." "What do we do with the hearts?" "Well, that's hard to say. You can't just leave them be or the evil will just be resurrected. However, if you eat them, they may take over your mind and body, just as Lile has done to James. That case is just as bad as the first. I'll leave the decision up to you." "Alright, seems like a lose-lose situation to me though." The man nods. "I wish that I could stay here with you, but I must find that woman. If I can kill her now, you can take your time with the evils. I leave the Mistress in your hands. I'm sure that you can defeat her." "Thanks." The man nods once more and disappears in a puff of smoke. They all look at the bodies of those that the man had slain. They stare as if they hadn't noticed them until now. "Even though it's not their faults, I guess this shows that we have no choice." Sven pushes a gun around with his foot. "We can no longer show them any mercy."

- - -

"Who's that guy?" "Hm?" Adam looks in the direction of Andrew's finger. There's a man in a robe walking slowly towards them. "Did the Mistress miss one?" As the man passes by, he glares at them, but continues on without incident. "That's weird." They notice that Krista is breathing very heavily and turn to look at her. Her eyes are wide open, she has a look of terror on her face. Her eyes seem to be glued to the man, tears begin to roll down her cheeks. Her red pupils don't seem to inflict terror on Andrew or Adam now, but pity. "Krista, are you alright?" She seems to snap back to reality, her eyes narrow and she gazes down to the sidewalk. "Where…the hell am I?" "What do you mean? We're in Japan still, we haven't gone anywhere." "Who are the two of you?" Adam and Andrew look at each other, confused. "Krista, are you feeling alright?" Krista's face hardens, replacing her look of fear with a look of anger. "You don't address me unless I _ask_ you to." Andrew sighs. "I guess she's feeling better."

- - -

"This whole thing is stupid, we can't win no matter what we do." Sven shakes his head. "I can't believe that the entire world is relying on a couple of kids." Emiko looks up to Sven. "It's not like we can just give up though, this isn't just some game where we can say "whatever" and shut it off." Kaylee stares at the ground. "They're relying on us, if we don't do it, the world is doomed." Sven sighs. "I know." He attempts to move forward but finds that he can't move his feet. "What's going on?" "Huh?" Emiko looks down at Sven's legs and notices that the darkness itself seems to have wrapped around them. Sven frantically tries to get free, but feels a sudden jerk and is quickly pulled into the darkness. "Sven!" Emiko jumps to her feet, Kaylee stares at where Sven had been, unsure of what to do. Slowly, the darkness begins to make its way across the grass, appearing to be a pure black shadow in the darkness. Emiko draws her dagger and pounces on top of the darkness, she feels it slide right through the flesh of the creature. Dark blood gushes out, covering Emiko's hand and her dagger and then she looks at Kaylee. "Are you alright?" "Why did you just attack the ground?" "What do you mean? You didn't see it?" "See what?" "The thing that just attacked Sven. It was moving along the ground! How'd you miss it?" Kaylee shrugs. "Just did I guess." Emiko hears some twigs breaking behind her and she turns to find a woman holding Sven. She has a knife against his throat. "Well done, most people don't notice me in my shadow form." "Who are you?" "I'm the Mistress of Pain. I hear that the three of you are here to kill me?" Kaylee gets to her feet and glares evilly at the Mistress. "That's right." In the blink of an eye, the Mistress throws two daggers, one at each of them, and then puts her knife back to Sven's throat. Emiko quickly drops to the ground and the dagger flies by. The other lands in Kaylee's shoulder. "Those blades are poisoned, not with any old poison though, no. It's connected directly to me. Slowly, it will steal your soul and send it to me; the only cure is to kill me before your time runs out. Do you think you can do it?" Emiko watches Kaylee fall to the ground and begin to writhe in pain. Emiko frowns and tightens her grip on her dagger. "If you attack me, I'll kill this boy. It's either him or her, who will you choose to live?" Damnit, I can't make that kind of decision! Are you kidding me?" The Mistress smirks. "Tick tock, tick tock. Take too long and they're both dead." "Take me instead!" "And end your suffering? Not a chance." Emiko looks at Sven in the Mistress' arms and then to Kaylee rolling on the ground in pain. "Emiko, just come kill her! So what if she kills me? She needs to be killed and Kaylee needs to live if you're going to finish what we're doing!" "But-!" "Just do it!" Emiko raises her dagger and takes a deep breath. "Come on girl, attack." "Fi-!" Blood spurts from the Mistress' mouth, it splashes over her armor and drips to the ground. Her arm goes limp and leaves Sven's throat. He jumps away. "Ah, Mistress, it seems that you have miscounted your enemies." The Mistress looks to her chest, a sword with a black cloud surrounding it is sticking out. Sven looks behind the Mistress. "Hyun?" Hyun removes the sword from the Mistress and looks to Sven. "Don't get in my way." He pushes Sven onto the ground and looks back to the Mistress who seems to have regained her composure. "You brat! What did you do!?" Hyun smiles. "I stabbed you. Not like I'm on your side, right?" The Mistress seems to come to a conclusion about Hyun and fear appears on her face. She takes a step back. "No, you're on _her_ side now, you're with Lile!" Hyun lets out a chuckle. "Correct." He swings his sword at the Mistress' neck and her head falls to the ground, followed by the rest of her body. Kaylee's screams of pain quickly stop. Emiko lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Hyun." Hyun glares at her and she backs away. "I recommend that you leave, unless you wish to die." "What? Why would we die? You killed the Mistress." Hyun frowns. "It's your choice, it was just a suggestion and it's still my recommendation." "Are you coming with us?" "No." "Then we're staying." "Fine, you're choice." Hyun leans against a nearby tree. Emiko gets a sudden feeling of fear and freezes entirely. Sven looks into the darkness. "It's Lile. She's here."

- - -

"So, the Mistress is dead." Adam shakes his head. "Not quite, she still has her heart. "For now. That'll change." "I guess you're right, whether it's Lile or one of the others who takes it, her heart is as good as gone."

- - -

Sven quickly stares at the body of the Mistress. "Damnit, one of needs to eat her heart before Lile gets here!" Emiko hesitates for a moment but begins to run towards the corpse. Kaylee yells out to Emiko. "No! You can't! The evil will just take you over!" Emiko bites her lip. "But…!" Hyun smirks. "Time is running out, you should probably go." "Shut up! We're staying!" Emiko quickly stabs her dagger into the Mistress' chest and cuts open a hole, blood pours out and she forces her hand inside. She pulls the still-beating heart out of the Mistress and Hyun begins to look a little nervous. "The hell? You're not actually gonna do it, are ya?" Sweat drips down Emiko's face as everyone stares at the bloody heart beating in her hand, in shock. "I have no choice!" She shoves the heart into her mouth, nearly choking as she swallows it. Hyun really seems to be angered now. "What the hell is the matter with you!? That wasn't heroic or anything, it was just stupid!" Emiko frowns. "I did wh-" Everything begins to get blurry. "What I had to do." She falls over and blacks out. Sven seems to come out of a trance. "Damnit! What the hell do we do now!?" Hyun sighs. "I still recommend that you leave, Lile will come after this girl now. She's doomed." "Shut the hell up already! We're not going anywhere without both you and Emiko!" They hear a female voice behind them. "Unfortunately, that is no longer an option." Sven quickly turns around to find Lile, the darkness only remains on her face. "Not even you are going to-" The surroundings change and both Kaylee and Sven are back on the airplane. Sven punches the wall. "No! She's going to kill her!" "Lile says that we must continue, Emiko was as good as dead the minute she ate that heart." "Whose side is she on!?" "We don't have a choice!" "Like hell we don't! She's just worried about herself! I beat that "Evil Lile" and her are the same damn person!" Kaylee jumps up. "How dare you say something like that!? She's been helping us from the start!" "She's been _using_ us from the start! She just wasn't strong enough to kill the evils on her own before, and now that she is, she's gonna pick us off one by one! We went from four to two since we got to Japan, and why!? Because she took them from us! How can you believe such a twisted son of a-" "I just do! If it wasn't for her, I would be dead! She saved my life more times than I can count! That night we spent in jail, I tried to kill myself, I was more than ready to do it. Lile stopped me! And then that other time, when you couldn't save me from Adam, she resurrected me! She keeps saving me, she's protecting us all!" "To save herself!" "God damnit, Sven!" Kaylee slaps Sven across the face and he stares at her, shocked. "You're doing nothing but trying to change reality to fit whatever you want! We can't save Emiko!" Sven silently walks to the pilot's seat and sits down. "Let's go."

- - -

"Think they're done with their little hissy fit?" Andrew shrugs. "I guess so, it sounds like it. Krista, when do we go in?" Krista glances to Andrew without moving her head. "In a little bit, let's get a free ride first." Andrew nods. "Alright, sounds good."


	16. Act XXVI

**Act XXVI**

After only a few hours, Kaylee yells out. "We're here!" "Where's here?" "I don't know, somewhere in Australia." "Great, a desert. Does she know who we get to fight here?" "Umm. Uh-oh." "What?" "Mephisto, the one we fought in the school." "Great, he killed us once, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do it again." "We've gotten stronger since then you know." "Yeah, I know." With those words, the plane comes to a stop on the ground. The door to the cockpit slowly creaks open. "Y'know, it really doesn't matter how strong you've gotten, you won't be fighting Mephisto." Andrew walks inside, followed soon after by Adam and Krista. Sven quickly takes his seat belt off, stands up, and draws his sword. "What are you doing here!?" "Do we really need to say it? We're here to kill you." Krista puts her arm up to Andrew and pushes him back a little. "No. Just me." Sven narrows his eyes at Krista. "And who are you exactly?" "My name is Krista, I have joined these two so that I may aid the Outcast in destroying you." Sven smiles. "And you think that you can do that alone? We're no pushovers." Krista smiles evilly, her eyes wide. "Nor am I, mortal." She raises her fist into the air and fire surrounds it. There's a slight bang as the fire pulls together into a flaming sword in Krista's fist. "So, you can use magic too?" Krista grins. "You can say that." She lunges at Sven, but her sword clangs onto his. "Mortal, where did you get your sword? This fire should melt any metal it comes in contact with." Krista begins to push harder against Sven's sword. "That's a secret, demon!" Sven's eyes turn pure black a dark aura surrounds his sword. Krista begins to laugh. "Ah, this is interesting. My master's sword, is it?" Lile seems to be speaking each word as Sven does. "Back off! I know who you are, I've killed you once, I'll do it again!" A red aura begins to surround Krista and she begins to grow fangs. "Try it! I'm no longer a powerless human, you can't defeat me!" "Krista, look out!" Andrew jumps towards Krista to knock her out of the way, but the lightning from Kaylee's hands hits her anyway. She falls to the ground with Andrew. Tears form in her eyes and the red pupils dim slightly. "Why am I here? What'd I do!?" Sven growls. "You already know! Die!" Sven raises his sword above the girl as she sobs on the floor, terror in her eyes. "Help me!" "Sven, stop!" Sven's sword freezes in mid-air. "Leave." Krista stands up, still crying, Adam and Andrew help to hold her up. "Where am I…why is this happening…?" Andrew glances back at Andrew, a concerned look on his face. As they exit the plane, Krista's sword fades away, the darkness surrounding Sven does the same. "Man, what the hell just happened?" Kaylee shakes her head. "She isn't against us, she's just as much of a victim as we are." "Whatever, if they know what's good for them, they'll stay away from us now."

- - -

"Krista, what happened?" "Who are you people? What am I doing here?" "Seriously? You brought us here, Krista…" Krista wipes the tears from her eyes. "I-I don't remember. Where are we!?" Krista pushes Adam and Andrew away from her. "Hey! Knock it off, we're trying to help you!" "I don't need help from two strange guys that brought me somewhere unconscious! The Hell did you do to me!? I'm gonna call the police!" "It's not like that at all Krista! We met you back in Japan." Krista lets out an angry laugh. "J-Japan, eh!? I'm from Chicago, not god damn Japan! Don't lie to me you moron!" Adam and Andrew take a step back. "Do you really not remember at all? About the Outcast?" Krista lets out an annoyed scream and stomps her foot. "Just leave me alone!" Krista turns to leave but Adam puts his hand on her shoulder. "Krista, wait." Krista slowly turns to look at him, a look of pure anger on her face. Her eyes become their old dark red color and she snarls. "Don't touch me, mortal." Adam freezes with fear and Krista pushes his hand from her shoulder. "Why did you idiots run from them?" "We were trying to help you!" Krista sighs. "I didn't need help, morons."

- - -

"Do you think that it's safe for us to go now?" "Yeah, they're long gone, I guess I really scared them away." The two of them jump from the plane, into the desert. "Man, Lile could've brought us a little closer than this, couldn't she? I can't see any buildings anywhere." "Wait, Sven, hold my hand." Sven does as Kaylee says and the scenery changes, they find themselves in an old alleyway. "She can teleport us now, but it'll only go short distances, so we'll still need the plane." Sven shrugs. "Works for me." They sneak to the end of the alley and look into the street. Cars are crashed, buildings are burning and people lay mangled on the streets. "Damnit, brings back memories. I guess we're too late this time." "He's still around somewhere, he'll be easier to find if no one else is around anyway." "I guess." They step out of the alley, the only noise is the crackling of the fires. The door to the building on their right creaks open, but not enough for them to see inside. "Sven, Kaylee, in here." Sven and Kaylee look at each other and Sven draws his sword. "Alright, let's go." Sven opens the door slowly and peers inside. The druid from Japan is staring back at him. "It's you! What're you doing here?" "I'm looking for Lile, this should be her next target. If she gains much more power, she'll just kill the evils on her own, you can't allow her to gain any more power than she has right now." "Well, we're obviously trying not to let her, but-" "But nothing! Don't try, do! If she gains any more power, the world will be doomed, we will no longer have a chance against her." "Fine, we'll get it done, she won't gain any more power than she has now." "Good, now, about the infected, they aren't fresh. They should be up any minute now. Can you handle them?" "Yeah, but, where're you going?" "I'll try to hold Lile back while you find and kill Mephisto." With that, the druid disappears in a puff of smoke. Sven peers back outside, the corpses are gone. "Looks like he was right. Where did Lile say Mephisto would be?" Sven turns to look at Kaylee just as a sickly looking man is about to grab her from behind. "Kaylee, look out!" She screams as the man throws her over his shoulder and starts to run further into the house with amazing speed. "Damnit!" He chases the man through the door and up some stairs. "Get back here!" "Sven, help!" Sven follows Kaylee's voice through another doorway and out onto a balcony. There's nothing there. "Kaylee?" There's no answer. "Damnit! Where'd he go!?" Sven turns to return to the first floor, but the stairs are destroyed. "The hell? It should've at least made some noise…" He decides not to jump down, but to explore the rest of the house. Sven opens the only other door in the hall and finds himself in a bedroom. A thumping is coming from behind another door in the room. "Someone in there?" He looks down and sees blood leaking from beneath the door. He quickly pulls the door open to find a man hanging by his leg, his other leg and both his arms seem to have been cut off and are dripping blood. Sven falls backwards onto the floor, staring at the body swinging from the closet ceiling. The man's eyes jump open and he seems to pause for a moment before screaming in pain. "Oh my god! What the hell is this!?" Sven jumps up and cuts the rope holding the man up. The man writhes around on the floor, still screaming. Blood splatters from where his limbs should be whenever he moves. "Shit, SHIT! What the hell do I do!?" The man stops screaming and appears to begin having a seizure. Sven jumps back against the wall as the man pukes up blood and his eyes roll into the back of his head. The man lets out one last scream as his entire body explodes. Blood splatters over Sven's body as he stares in horror at the bloody spot where the body had been. The bones have blown through pieces of the floor. Sven hears demonic laughter. "Welcome to my lair, boy. I'll give you some credit for avoiding my corpse explosion, but you won't get far now that you're alone." Sven continues to stare at the floor, frozen with fear. "Mephisto…damnit."

- - -

"Hey man, this TV still works." Andrew looks over to the TV that Adam is standing next to. "I bet it's nothing but news though, right?" Adam switches through the channels before settling on one. "Yeah, same thing on every station. He sits back and watches. "Zombies and demons, things believed only to exist in books and movies, until now. Other than South America and the Majority of Asia, it appears that the entire population of the planet has become zombies. They have varying intelligence levels, from wanting only to eat flesh to gathering up weapons to protect themselves and speaking their native tongue. Much of what we have has been destroyed, leading us to believe that we may have been in the same state as them at one point. No one has any memory of the last few days and the dead are too many to count. No one quite knows how this began or how we got back to being ourselves, but this corpse leads us to believe that demons have come to Earth." The camera focuses on Diablo's corpse. "We found thirty dead here as well as evidence of movement and objects being taken. We have also found a video camera nearby showing shocking footage of how we believe this beast was brought down." The video that Emiko explained earlier then plays on the screen, showing Sven and Hyun killing Diablo and then running as Lile shows up. "If anyone has any information at all on these boys, please call us at the number at the bottom of your screen. Now, those of you who are still alive don't worry. All of the military that hasn't become one of them has been sent out. They have been ordered to kill anything that moves. If there does happen to be a survivor, you had better get into either Asia or South America ASAP, because you _will_ be killed." With that, the channel goes to static. Adam smiles. "Sounds like fun."

- - -

When Sven finally regains his composure, he walks very slowly over to the holes in the floor and looks down. The floor doesn't seem to be too far below, so he kicks the area around the hole until it falls through and then jumps down. He finds himself in a small, wooden room with very little light. "This is different than the other rooms…" He looks around, there are no windows and only one door on the far side. Other than that, it's empty. Sven walks up to the door and opens it, it leads to a dark cave. "What the hell is this?" Sven draws his sword and suddenly finds himself able to see in the dark as his eyes turn a dark black. The cave appears as if it was made recently, but it goes far. "Mephisto, I'm coming for you."

- - -

The three had been silent for a long time, sitting in the TV room of the Australian house before Adam says anything. "So Krista, where exactly are you from? You said Chicago?" "Sanctuary." "What? What's that?" "It no longer exists. Split into pieces." "Split into pieces? From an earthquake?" "Sort of. Many years of continental decay." Adam and Andrew exchange odd faces and look back to Krista. "And this all happened in Chicago?" Krista frowns. "I'm not from Chicago, I'm from Sanctuary." "But you said-" "I AM FROM SANCTUARY." Adam backs down. "What happened on the plane earlier? When you lost your memory." Krista remains still, her arms folded, and ignores Adam. "Do you have a problem with me, boy?" Adam sighs. "Sort of." Krista sighs and seems ready to say something, but returns to how she was. "Deal with it."


	17. Act XXVII

**Act** **XXVII**

"So, what do we do with her? Do we just kill her?" "We must wait for the demon to take over. When she loses control, we will kill her. She was a fool to think absorbing the Mistress' power would save her and her friends." Hyun nods. "Very well, I will watch her, master, there will be no escape should she try to run." "Do not disappoint me, boy. Failure will result in death." Hyun bows to Lile as she exits the room. "You can't keep me here! How can you work for a demon like her! You mor-" Hyun puts his finger to Emiko's mouth and whispers into her ear. "I work for noone but myself." Emiko lowers her voice. "What!? Then what are you doing?" "She thinks that I'm still under her control, but I broke free not long after you were captured. Now that she's gone, we'll escape." Hyun unties Emiko and helps her to her feet. "Alright, you need to do exactly as I say." "Thank-" "And don't make any noise."

- - -

"Let me go!" Kaylee kicks the infected in the knee and he lets go of her. Kaylee turns to look at him. "Stay back!" He holds his ground and draws his sword. "I have been ordered to kill you. Master says that your body must be destroyed in order for you to die." "I'll kill you before you can get near me again." "You will die before you can escape the desert, it won't matter if you kill me." "I'll teleport out." "There are more waiting on the edges." "I'll kill them all." "The entire population of Australia? They have all been stationed around the desert. Your death will assure our victory." "If that's what I need to do, yes, I will kill them all with a single spell." With that, Kaylee punches him in the jaw, followed by a kick to the stomach. He falls to the ground and Kaylee places her hand to his chest. "I will kill the demons, no matter the cost." The infected ignites and burns to nothing but bones within seconds.

- - -

"Don't think that you're safe just because you have escaped Lile's lair. She will still come after you, and your battle with the demon is a losing one. You must control the Mistress for as long as possible. Once you lose control, your soul will be lost and you will be doomed to walk the Earth as an unseen spirit for eternity." "How long do you think that I can last?" "A couple of days, maybe. However..." Hyun pulls a bottle of pills out of his pocket. "These are special pills created by Lile which will slow the demon's progress. I have seen her using them, and I borrowed them. There are only a few left in that bottle though, so you must be quick. The demon will not stop until the Outcast has been killed." Emiko takes the bottle from Hyun's hand. "And what will you do?" "Well, I can't go back. When Lile finds that you are gone, she will come for us both. So, I will stay with you for as long as I can." "Thank you Hyun, but, why are you risking your life for me?" "I would never work for that woman, she'd kill me right after she finished her plan. I'd rather die aiding you than die serving her." Emiko smiles. "Thank you, Hyun."

- - -

"I can't allow you to use that spell, Kaylee. Not for that." "You need to, I can't get out of the desert otherwise." "We'll think of another way. It would be very wrong to kill that many innocent people." "Well, what do you suggest that I do? I'm completely surrounded and I can't help from here." "Yeah, but..." "But nothing, I'm going, and unless you _want_ me to die, I suggest that you let me use the spell." Lile remains silent and Kaylee smirks. "You'd better run while you can, I'm coming for all of ya."

- - -

Emiko stumbles forward a few steps and feels a sudden pain in her head. Hyun stops to turn and look at her. "Are you alright?" She puts her hand to her head and winces with pain. "Um, yeah, I'm fine." Hyun raises an eyebrow. "You don't look fine. Are you sure?" She begins to breathe heavily and falls to her knees, the ache spreads through the rest of her body. "No! It hurts!" "Damnit!" Emiko falls to the ground entirely and begins to writhe around with pain, screaming. "Hold still for a second!" Hyun kneels beside her, but she continues to roll around, holding her head. Hyun manages to get the bottle of pills from her pocket. He pulls one out and holds her head still as he puts it into her mouth. She stops moving and screaming a few moments later as her breathing returns to normal. "Are you alright?" Emiko takes a second before answering. "Yeah, I'm OK. Thank you Hyun." Hyun helps her back to her feet, she wobbles for a moment but stays up. "No problem. The demon's progress is too fast, we need to speed up." Emiko nods and they both begin running down the path.

- - -

"That's a huge crowd." "There are a lot more than you can see, Kaylee. Are you sure that you want to do this?" "Yes, I'm sure." Kaylee steps out from behind the rock she was hiding behind. "I'm here guys, come and get me!" Hundreds of guns can be heard being cocked and are then aimed at Kaylee. She smiles and raises her hands above her head. A wave of heat surrounds her. The infecteds all shoot at once, the bullets disintegrate as they get close. "Come on, kill me!" The heat grows more intense and begins to expand. Infecteds begin running towards her with their swords raised. They catch fire and fall to the ground as their flesh burns away. The heat continues to grow and the air itself seems to catch fire. Kaylee begins to laugh happily. "Apocal-!" "Kaylee, no!" Kaylee scans the area through the flames. "Hyun and Emiko?" The infecteds had cleared a path for them to pass and now stand around them, unmoving. "Stop! You can't kill them Kaylee, they're being controlled, you know that! What good is killing the demons if _we_ kill everyone else in the process!?" The flames die down as Kaylee runs to Hyun. "How did you guys get here?" She looks around. "And why aren't they attacking you?" "They seems to be in a trance, Mephisto must be distracted, I guess. Where's Sven?" "We got split up not long after getting her, I'm not sure what happened to him. You didn't answer my other question though." "Lile brought us here, I broke free of her control and escaped with Emiko." "And where are wek going now?" "Well, to find Sven I guess."

- - -

"It's over mortal, you lost." Sven sits on one knee, trying to catch his breath. "No, you're wrong. I won't lose to you. Because of you, my family is either dead or controlled by the Outcast. On that first day, seeing Skye there, bleeding on the floor...that's an image that I will never be able to forget. Then, in the school, you kill me, you killed _us_." Sven's grip on his sword tightens. "You son of a bitch!" He jumps up and swings his sword at Mephisto who then jumps back, out of the way. Mephisto laughs. "It's alright, you'll be joining them all soon enough." Sven gets into a battle stance, holding up his sword, a dark black aura emanates from it and spreads down his arms. "Not a chance in Hell, demon." "That aura...Where did you get that sword?" Sven's eyes become pure black as the aura surrounds the rest of his body. "You don't want to know." Mephisto seems to lose all of his confidence and takes a step back, raising his arms in front of himself to defend against the sword. In the blink of an eye, Sven jumps forward and slices through Mephisto's arms, he doesn't move as they fall to the ground. "You win, mortal, but you won't last much longer against Lile." Sven smiles as he allows the sword to continue on, ripping through his chest. Mephisto falls dead onto the ground. Sven kneels beside him and reaches his hand into Mephisto's chest, then removes the heart. "Now we're even." Sven shoves the heart into his mouth and swallows it whole.

- - -

"This is the building where we got separated, I'm sure of it." "Where is he? We've searched the whole floor and I don't think he could've made it up those stairs." Hyun looks to the destroyed stairs as Sven jumps down from the second floor, his eyes remain pure black. "It's done, I killed Mephisto." Forgetting about everything else, Hyun speaks. "And his heart?" "I ate it." "You know what that means, don't you?" "Lile will come after me." "No, she doesn't need to, she's still connected to you, she gained Mephisto's power right after you ate his heart. Mephisto's power and his soul were sent directly to Lile." Sven shrugs. "At least I don't need to worry about my mind being taken over." Hyun sighs and stares at Sven's eyes. "Yeah, at least that."

- - -

"Come on out Baal, I know you're here." The darkness has receded entirely from Lile's body now, mangled bodies of the infected are strewn about the jungle. Something rushes past Lile. "Why do you run, demon? I am a simple sorceress, what can I do?" Lile smirks as she hears a twig snap in the distance. "Very well, if you will not come to me, then I will come to you." Lile raises her hand in the direction of the noise and a wall of flame springs forth, destroying all of the trees in its path. Baal screams as he puts out the flames on his body, then turns to look at Lile. "The Outcast trusted you Lile, why are you doing this?" Lile takes a step forward and Baal takes a step back. "For power. He was an idiot to trust anyone. To truly be powerful, one must work alone and trust none. If it will gain me power, I will stab anyone in the back. All who dare to face me will die." Baal sighs and draws his sword. "I knew he was a fool to trust you." A sword materializes in Lile's hand and she points it at Baal. "Not like you had any control over it." Lile teleports in front of Baal, the sword impales him. "Good bye, demon." Lile quickly moves the sword left and then right , splitting Baal in half. With Baal still breathing heavily on the ground, she reaches her hand into his chest and removes his beating heart. His eyes widen and he tries to scream, but only coughs up blood. Lile smiles as she shoves the heart down her throat.


	18. Act XXVIII

**Act XXVIII**

"We must move faster, Kaylee! My other half is now hunting the demons down herself!" "Well, it's about time she stopped using us." "This isn't the time for jokes, she has already been to Africa and killed Baal and now she's on her way to Europe, you mustn't allow her to gain any more power, she now has control over four of the evils and was as strong as me to begin with!" "So who's left?" "Andariel, Slater and the Outcast, both Andariel and Slater will be in Europe and then you will return to your home town to fight the Outcast."

- - -

"This is kind of against what the Outcast wants, isn't it?" Krista glares at Andrew. "This is personal business. I have a score to settle." Adam and Andrew look to each other nervously. "But, I mean, this is helping the other side, how would that help us?" Krista sighs. "It doesn't help _us_, but I will settle an old score and then absorb her power. It will aid _me_, if you have a problem with that, I will kill you." Adam remains silent, but Andrew speaks up. "Alright, we'll help you, but if the Outcast orders us to stop, you'll be on your own." "Whatever, I don't need your help anyway."

- - -

"Hey! We're landing! Everyone sit down!" Sven, Hyun, Kaylee and Emiko each take a seat as the plane makes a safe landing, a woman stands in front of the plane. "Who is that?" "Kaylee, that's Andariel, listen to what she has to say." "Andariel? But isn't that one of the evils?" "Trust me Kaylee." Kaylee nods and looks to Sven. "We need to talk that woman, her name is Andariel." Sven opens the door and Andariel walks up to it, Sven eyes her claws suspiciously. "Mortals, do not fear me, I am here to help you. Ten thousand years ago, the Outcast met a woman who he trusted more than anyone, even his own brothers and sisters. This woman was Lile. Even before this, there was a great war between the lesser evils and the prime evils. We tried to overthrow our brothers and take control of Hell, with Slater as our leader. We forced Baal, Mephisto and Diablo to join us, when we came up with a plan to destroy the Outcast. Slater led him to a ritual ground for fallen ones, where he was sealed away. However, at the last moment, the Outcast stole the demon part of Slater, leaving her a human. From there she became Lile's apprentice. In the end, Slater rejoined the Outcast, begging for forgiveness, she was forgiven. At the same time, in my jealously, I aided the chosen one in defeating Lile, sealing away her evil and myself in Hell. The Outcast has refused to forgive me while he has forgiven Slater without a second thought. I was originally promised all of Europe, but I know now that he is sending Slater here, we will be forced to battle to the death for this land or go to Antarctica, where we will be considered as good as dead. I want you to aid me in defeating Slater and then you will be free to do what you want to me." Sven looks to Kaylee. "Should we trust her?" Kaylee nods. "Lile says that she's telling the truth." Sven looks to Andariel again. "Fine, we'll help, but one wrong move and we will kill you."

- - -

"They aren't far from here, it's been a long time since I last felt any enjoyment." A big smile forms across Krista's face. Andrew glances to Krista with a frown on his face and shakes his head, she doesn't seem to care. "They'll be here any minute now!" "Why are you so excited to kill her?" Krista narrows her eyes and loses her smile. "She destroyed Hell, our victory over Sanctuary was assured until she made her move." "Wait...your victory? You mean that you're one of the evils?" "Does the Outcast tell you nothing? I am Slater." Sven emerges from a nearby bush. "And you're gonna die." Andariel follows and holds him back. "Do not interfere unless it becomes necessary." Krista smriks. "Adam, Andrew, you do the same." Krista and Andariel step forward, staring evilly into each other's eyes. "You will pay for what you've done, Andariel. We would've taken over the world long ago if you hadn't interfered! Because of you, I have spent the last ten thousand years jumping from human to human, forced to hide myself from mortals. I had to cast a spell on myself to remain attached to the humans for such long periods. If I had left any of their bodies for any longer than five minutes, I would permanently fade away, and could never return to the same human twice. Never before did I feel so weak, but unlike you, I remained loyal to the Outcast. You are a traitor." "You've done far worse thing than I, Slater. You forced your brothers and sisters against the Outcast, you wanted him dead. If he didn't take the evil within you out as he went down, we all would've ended up dead. If Lile hadn't emptied out the cave and forced the Fallen to unseal the Outcast as a last resort, he'd still be gone and the chosen one would have killed us for good. Whereas, I only tried to rid us of Lile. The Outcast had become obsessed with that woman, he no longer cared about his family, he only wanted to rule the earth with his precious Lile by his side. I had to bring him back to reality!" "And in the process, you destroyed all of Hell, our home. You killed all of your brothers and your sisters. If I hadn't escaped in time, the Outcast would've died within a few years beneath the surface. If you hadn't been sealed away with Lile, you wouldn't have even been brought back." Andariel frowns. "Very well, if we can't decide whose sins were the worst, we will fight for the Outcast's respect." "If that's what you wish, Andariel. However, we all know that you are the weakest of us eight and that, by far, I am the second strongest, just below the Outcast." "Enough talk." With those words, Krista's fingernails grow into foot long claws and she swipes at Andariel's neck. Andariel takes a step back, avoiding decapitation, but the claws still go deep. Andariel falls backwards to the ground, holding her hands to her neck to stop the blood flow. Krista chuckles. "What were you expecting?" She shoves her hand into Andariel's chest and removes the heart. Sven steps forward. "Drop it!" Krista looks to Sven, he has his sword raised, the black aura surrounds him. Krista's eyes dim and a look of terror appears on her face. She stares at the still-beating heart in her hand. Krista falls back onto the ground and rushes backwards on her hands. "What's going on!? What'd I do!?" She looks to Adam and Andrew, then to Sven, Kaylee, Hyun and Emiko, they're all now staring at her, tears form in her eyes. Adam and Andrew hear the Outcast's voice in their heads. "You idiots! Why did you allow Slater to kill Andariel!?" "You didn't tell us not to, so I figured it was alright." "Slater was blocking me from speaking to you, fools! Why would I want her dead!? The more evils who die, the closer I come to being mortal!" "Well, why don't you just revive her?" "She isn't dead yet! And even if she was, I must wait at least an hour after their deaths before I can revive them!" "Right, so we're screwed." "I am removing you both from your positions in my army, you will be mortal again, and Slater will take care of you, enjoy your deaths, mortals." The scars on Adam's and Andrew's arms disappear entirely and they fall unconscious onto the ground. Krista finally regains her composure and jumps to her feet. "You! Who are you!?" Sven points to himself and looks around. "Who, me?" "Yes, you!" "I'm Sven, you know that Slater!" "Slater? My name is Krista." Sven gets an angry look on his face. Hyun puts an arm in front of him. "Wait." The dark aura around Sven disappears. Krista suddenly gets a look of pain on her face. "No! No, no no!" She holds her hands to her head and falls to her knees. The claws grow out again, her skin slowly becomes a scaley texture as she screams in pain. Hyun taps Emiko's shoulder. "I need those pills." Emiko hands the bottle of pills to Hyun. He rushes to Andariel's body and picks up the beating heart. Horns begin to push out of the top of Krista's head and spikes come from her spine. Her voice becomes demonic, her screams sending chills down everyone's spine. Hyun reaches Krista and shoves a pill into the heart, then forces it into her mouth. She swallows it whole in her attempt to scream. Quickly, the screaming stops, she stares straight ahead. The spikes and the horns recede and the claws return to being fingernails. Her eyes change from the red color to a deep blue. She falls unconscious. Hyun smiles. "As long as the demons remain suppressed, she will be alright. We need to kill the Outcast before they can take control of either Krista or Emiko, he is mortal now." Sven raises an eyebrow. "How do you know that?" "I heard from Lile. As long as the demons are either suppressed or sealed away, it's unnecessary to kill them." "So, we're almost done. Only one evil left to go, and we're up to five people now!" "Make that seven." Adam and Andrew stand up, wobbling a bit. "We'll be getting revenge on the Outcast for controlling us." Sven eyes them suspiciously. "How can we trust you?" They show Sven their arms, which no longer have scars on them. "The Outcast has freed us, believing that Slater would've killed us." Sven smiles. "Alright guys, welcome back to the good team." "Kaylee, the military is coming, they've destroyed your plane. I think I can send you enough power to teleport all of you to North America now. Have everyone hold your hands." "Everyone, take my hands, we're going home." Kaylee takes Krista's hand while everyone gathers around her. The area fades and they find themselves at the high school. "We're almost at the end, it's finally almost over." Kaylee helps Krista to her feet as she regains consciousness. "Where am I? What happened?" Kaylee smiles. "I'm sorry, but there's no time to explain thoroughly, but in short, you were possessed by a demon, everyone else become mindless zombies and you tried to kill us. Oh, and we're in Rhode Island." Krista narrows her eyes and stares at the ground. "A...demon?" She remains silent after that. "So, Kaylee, where is the Outcast?" "Right where he started, he's in Old Mountain Field, waiting." "Let's go then, we'll end this for good." They walk down the street from the school to the field, nothing stands in their way. In the center of the field stands the Outcast, his arms crossed. "Welcome mortals, I suppose that you think that you have won? Only one more to go, right?" Sven shrugs. "Well, yeah." "Even with my death, you will have no victory. That is, if you even have the ability to kill me. The military is killing everyone that you fought so hard to protect, I personally took care of North America for them. Then, if they don't kill you, Lile will still be here. I brought her back, believing that she would still be loyal, but it appears that that part of her was in her good half. So, there's no controlling her, she won't stop until she's the last one alive." Sven sighs. "Even if you're right, do you think that we're going to stop? You're still going to die." "Very well. Slater, Mistress, come to me." Krista and Emiko's faces go blank and their eyes become a dark red, their nails begin to grow long and black. Hyun shakes his head. "That isn't going to work, you idiot." He quickly puts a pill into both Krista's and Emiko's mouth and they swallow them. They return to normal. Hyun smiles. "You are no better than your brother and your sisters now, no longer invincible and no special powers of revival. I bet you've never fought a fair fight in your life, you'd be a crazy meat to fight us any longer." "A crazy meat?" "O-Ho! You heard me, boy!" The Outcast frowns. "Then let's do it." With those words, the Outcast falls to the ground, dead. The seven stare at his lifeless corpse, speechless. From thin air appears Lile. "Ah, finally rid of that annoying man and his kin. Your job is complete now, yes?" Sven shakily nods his head. "Well, yeah." "Good, good. Then that means that I can kill you now." "Try it!" Lile begins laughing. "What's so funny?" "You could not land a hit on me before, and now that you all have no powers, what could you possibly hope to do?" "What powers? We didn't lose any powers?" "You, Sven, and you, Hyun. Your power lied in my swords, I lent my power to you, and now I'm taking it back." The swords disappear. "And you, Kaylee, now that your job is complete, my other half is no longer contacting you, you can not control your magic, you'd cause more harm than good if you even tried. Adam, Andrew, without the infection, well, you're pretty much useless now. Then we come down to Krista and Emiko, with the Outcast dead, you can no longer use the powers of the evils, it's as if you never ate their hearts. Not one of you has any power remaining. James was the only one lucky enough to keep what he gained." A voice is heard from behind the seven. "Actually, you've lost much of your power as well, woman." The druid pushes in front them and stares Lile in the eye. "The hearts that you gathered are useless as well. You are exactly as strong as you were ten thousand years ago, with one flaw. You are pure evil." Lile smiles. "Ah, so you've noticed. Even so, you don't have the ability to stop me." "In the worst case, the military Is almost to this exact spot, if I don't quite finish you off, they will." The druid grins as a red aura appears around him. "It won't work if you can't catch me." "I won't need to." Kaylee grabs Lile from behind, she had snuck around while Lile was talking. "This is the end!" The Outcast jumps at Lile and bites down on her arm. She screams in pain as the darkness begins to reappear on her arm, moving from her fingertips down to her elbow. She disappears and the druid follows. Sven stares at the blank space where they had been standing. "Is it over? Did he kill her?" "Don't move!" Sven turns to see an army of at least fifty men, each aiming their gun at them. "Crap." The seven raise their arms, eyeing the army cautiously. They all cock their guns and time seems to stop for Kaylee, nothing moves, all thoughts leave her head. The area around her begins to heat up, the bullets melt as they leave the guns. "Apocalypse!" There's a flash of white, no sound follows. Surrounding Kaylee is nothing but fire. Her friends, the army, everyone, lies on the ground, incinerated. She coughs up blood and avoids stepping into the rising flames. She realizes her hand is wrinkled and weak. She looks down to see that the rest of her body is the same. She has used up more energy than should have even been possible. She stumbles forward, one of the bones in her leg snaps and she falls to the ground. There, she lets out the last few raspy breaths of her life. All remains silent.

- - -

Lile stands in a desert holding her arm, breathing heavily. "Damn him! If I rid the world of him now, then I can easily win in the future." "Lile! What are you doing here?" A young man runs up to her. "What happened to you?" "You...so you're here already." Lile grabs the man by the neck and smirks. "What are you doing!? Get off of me!" He struggles, but can't escape. "Drop him." The druid stands behind Lile in the form of the wolf. "You won't succeed." Lile frowns. "You followed me?" "Yeah, you brought me with you while I was holding on. Your fault." The red aura appears around the druid. "All of the evil within you will be destroyed, leaving behind nothing." Lile drops the young man as she attempts to dodge the druid's attack, but she doesn't get far, he once again bites deep into her arm. She tries to push his head, but to no avail. The darkness spreads again, over her entire body, as she screams in pain. The darkness becomes a deep red and slowly begins to evaporate into the air. The druid legs go and Lile falls to her knees, her mouth is still open, but no sound comes out. There's a look of pure terror on her face until, at last, she's gone. In her place is James. "Quickly, before she takes me over entirely!" He looks around, confused. "What happened? I was just in the police station, wasn't I?" The druid prepares to kill him. "Stop. He is not the enemy. The evil has been destroyed, he has been restored to his usual form." The druid lowers his arm and becomes human again. "Lile, you're here! How did you know?" "I realized it when I heard your story, the one that you told to Kaylee, how you were attacked in the Lost City. She brought you back ten thousand years in an attempt to kill you in the past. That way you would be unable to fight her in the future. Then I realized that it was you who sealed yourself away in the statue, so that you would not age and so you could aid the chosen one when the time came." "So that means that all of this happened before, but we couldn't prevent what happened in the future?" "No, this time there is a difference. I did not come back in time to greet you the last time. You killed this boy, and then wandered aimlessly before finally dying of old age. This time, there's something that we can do. I don't quite have enough power to do it on my own, but if you aid me..." "What must I do?" "We will send this boy back to his time. He will not remember any of the events that took place, but both him and all he comes into contact with will remember subliminally. If all goes well, they will defeat the Outcast as he escapes the ground, it will all end immediately, and noone will know." The druid nods. "Very well, let's do it." Lile and the druid join hands and face the still incredibly confused James as they begin the incantation.


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Ten years before the disaster, a young Krista sits in her room, playing. Her mother comes in, a strange red glow in her eyes. "Krista, honey, I have something for you." Krista smiles and walks up to her mother. "What is it , mommy?" Her mother smirks. "A guardian. With it, you will never need to worry about being hurt by anything." "What? What do you mean?" The mother's eyes fade to their normal color and Slater seems to step forth from her body. "I will be your guardian, I have protected the women in your family for nearly ten thousand years, and now it is your turn. All you need to do is let me." Krista's eyes get wide and her breathing heavy. "Y-you..." She takes a step back as visions of the future flow through her head. OF her killing innocent people, and of her own death. "It's alright Krista, come with me." "Never! You are Slater, a demon! You don't want to protect me, you want me dead!" Slater frowns, a look of slight shock on her face. "Why do you say such things?" "I saw the future, I saw what you did to me, you...you...big meany!" Krista run up to Slater and pushes her back. "You aren't getting in me!" A look of fear now covers Slater's face. "Quickly, I can't go unattached much longer!" Slater's body begins to fade. Krista smiles. "Hey, you're see-through." With that, she turns back to her toys and starts to play. Slowly, Slater fades away forever. Krista's mother awakes not long later and never figures out what happened.

- - -

"Emiko, are you sure you want to leave for Japan? You'll be leaving all of your friends for a whole year, please think about it." "Yes mom, I'm-" A sharp pain fills Emiko's head as visions of her encounter with the Mistress seem to replay in front of her eyes. She screams as she sees herself eating the heart. "Hey! Are you alright, Emiko?" Emiko snaps back to reality and regains her focus. "Y-yeah." She begins walking from the room but turns back around to look at her mom. "Oh, and mom, I think I'm going to stay."

- - -

Magma begins slowly spilling from the ground in the middle of a large field. A charred paw shortly follow it, it's fur burned off. The hold gets larger and the magma bubbles out quicker. The begin pulls itself from the hole, dripping with the magma. It stands there for a moment before smirking. "At last, I'm free." James jumps up from his sleep, hitting his head on the top bunk of his bunk bed. He rubs his forehead as he lies back down. "That's the fifth night in a row that I've had that dream. Woah, de ja vu." He rubs his eyes and stands up from his bed. Slowly, images begin filling his head. Images of demons and of death. "That's odd, what would make thoughts like that go through my head?" He shakes his head. It's about time for him to get up, so he gets dressed and sits at his computer. He opens a chat window with Krista. "Ello." "Hey James, what's up?" "Nothing really, I had that dream again. Then I had these images fill my head. Images of the near future. Well, actually, forget it, you're gonna think I'm crazy." "Well, actually..." "What?" "When I was younger, six I think, I had similar images, and a demon came to me. It tried to take me over, but when I refused it, it disappeared. Do you think it could be related?" "Sure, make fun of me." With that, he logs out and leaves for the bus.

- - -

"Kaylee is coming over tonight." Andrew puts his bag under his bus seat. "Cool, cool." Andrew eyes James suspiciously. "Something wrong?" "Just tired, I had that same dream again, but this time I saw these weird images after I woke up, like visions or something." "Really? Actually, so did I. Of come guy taking over my mind and me becoming his slave." James smiles. "Meh, you like being a slave to creepy old men anyway." Andrew punches James in the arm. "Shut up."

- - -

Adam steps from his house to leave for school, but immediately images of it burning to the ground and of his friends and family as zombies fill his head. Before anyone notices, he snaps out of it and continues on his way, a confused look on his face.

- - -

"Hey, mom. Would you mind dropping me off at Old Mountain instead of at Andrew's? He said that he's pick me up there." "Sure, why?" "I don't know, I guess he wants to hang out there for a little while." Kaylee's mom shrugs. "Alright, have fun."

- - -

"We're here." Andrew takes his headphone from James' ear. "Great, another wonderful day of school." They both sigh. James spots Sven as he gets off of the bus. "Hey James, what's up?" "Not much, just tired. Might head over to Old Mountain after school." "Why's that?" Before James answers, visions of everything that happened fill Sven's head as well. "Hey, Sven, what're you doing?" Sven realizes he had stopped moving as he snaps back to reality. "Um, nothing, I'll talk to you later." He pushes past him and heads to class.

- - -

That night, Hyun reaches George's house, he knocks on the door. "Hya, I'm here!" George opens the door. "Hey Hya! About time you came down. What do you want to do?" "Um...want to drive down to Old Mountain Field?" "What? Why?" "I don't know, it's just been a while." George shrugs. "Alright Hyun."

- - -

Hyun gets to Old Mountain Field about ten minutes later, he convinces George to wait in the car. In the center of the field he finds James, Andrew, Sven, Kaylee, Emiko and Adam. "What are all of you doing here?" James turns to look at Hyun and smiles. "Het Hyunny boy, what's up you crazy meat!" "Well...you see..." "You're here to kill the demon as well?" Hyun eyes James suspiciously. "How did you know?" "All of us had visions of what would happen if we didn't kill him here and now, we pretty much pieces it all together now, and we're fairly sure it has all happened before. This is our second chance, and we're taking it." With that, the ground begins to shake and crack. "Here he is, get ready!" No magma spills out like in the dream, only a small, weak-looking man. His voice is raspy. "Slater, again you have failed me, I was nearly destroyed with your disappearance." James looks around. "Who is he talking to?" Hyun shrugs. The man slowly gets to his legs and points his finger at James. "You, you will be the first to die." James raises an eyebrow. "Alright, let's get him before he can revive the evils." The Outcast stumbles forward, the seven take out various weapons that they had brought, knives, bats, and more. The Outcast is dead quickly, his body turns to dust. The seven smile, at last they can rest, it's over.


End file.
